


The Return of Hatsune Miku

by Aura X-Y (Aurya)



Series: Underground Vocaloids [2]
Category: The World Ends With You, Vocaloid
Genre: Gen, TWEWY elements inspired by Solo Remix, Too many important characters '-.-, Written with complete disregard for common Vocaloid fanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-08 17:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15934982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurya/pseuds/Aura%20X-Y
Summary: It is three months after the end of the gamble that DIVA has hosted. The members of Glory Music have recovered from their trials in the Underground, and seek to show the world that they are still joyful. They want to do something big - and perhaps the Reapers can lend them a hand with that...





	1. 13 Days to Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> Trying to get myself to play TWEWY Solo Remix again before the Final Remix comes out, but my current environs (read: Draco's current FFXV craze) are not cooperating with that. So I'm gonna try writing something and see if that helps. I noticed I had a bunch of notes I'd written for Reaping about elements that never became relevant, so I'm gonna see if I can do something about that.
> 
> This fic assumes that you have read The Reaping of Hatsune Miku and will spare no spoilers about said story. Also, I do not have experience with the timeframe for concert preparations, so take everything about that with a grain of salt.

DIVA District - or so it was popularly known; a peaceful, if somewhat busy, area on the northwestern edge of the city of Diola. Although there had been certain unpleasantries in the past years, and more than one tragic occurrence lately, the District for Imaginative and Vocal Attitudes yet remained a place where warm-hearted, enjoyable people tended to gather... where others could see them.

But DIVA was host to a secret that many would deem unpleasant: that warm-hearted gathering place was only one face of DIVA, the Realground. At a higher frequency existed those who could see, but could not be seen by, those enjoyable people - those who played a role in a challenge for the dead known as the Reaper's Game. The Underground, wherein lay Reapers and the Players they tested, would host the dead for seven days in a fight for survival, and at the end of those seven days, survivors would be tested against one another for the right to return to life.

Glory Music was a popular indie band in DIVA, and all six of its members had died within its borders. Lead vocalist Hatsune Miku had been the first to die... and the last to return to life; courtesy of a foul grudge from the once-Composer, she had endured six weeks of Games. All of her fellow members had served as her partners at different points during that time - Megurine Luka, Honki Kaito, Sakine Meiko, Kagamine Len, and Kagamine Rin - and none of them had able to recognize her. The lack of witnesses to her death and her body going undiscovered meant that her absence had gained a reputation as "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku", and with Glory Music back together, they meant to cement her _re_ appearance with a bang.

The cause of that grudge had been a misconceived opinion that Miku contributed nothing to Glory Music but her voice - but her time in the Underground had given her more than enough inspiration and determination to prove that fact wrong. In the three months since her return, she had been writing, her friends had helped her orchestrate, and Glory Music had been rehearsing; now, as they stepped out from a tiring session of 'drills' (as they had started to call them, given the militant nature of their recently-prepared outfits) into the sunset-lit Swordsman's Square, all of them were in a good mood.

"I reckon we could prepare to perform about now," Luka observed.

"No objections here," Meiko admitted. "Do I swing by Silent Beat?"

"Can you save that for tomorrow?" Miku requested.

Meiko turned to her. "Define 'tomorrow'."

Kaito spoke up. "What do you have in mind?" he wondered.

"Well..." Miku narrowed her gaze. "No, nevermind."

"Come on," Luka objected, "you can tell us."

Miku sighed. "I was thinking of doing it... on 39."

" ** _What!?_** "

The bombardment of yells had Miku flinching. "That's why I said nevermind!"

"How would that even work?" Len asked. "It's not like the rooftop has enough room to host a crowd. And if we set up speakers loud enough to hear us from the plaza, we'd all be deaf by the end of the concert."

"Not even that," Rin argued. "Half the point of a concert is getting to  _see_ the performance. If we play from the rooftop, they can't see us. And 39 doesn't exactly have a jumbotron we can set up for them."

"I know, it's stupid when you actually consider it," Miku insisted. "That's why I said-"

They were cut off when somebody stepped out from around a nearby corner - a wiry figure in a long coat - and the six friends halted as he took a fighting stance. The sunset gleamed off the brass knuckles on one hand, and Miku reflexively raised a hand before her. "What have we here?"

Kaito stepped forward, grabbed his wrist, and  _squeezed_ hard enough for him to uncurl his fist; then he wrenched the knuckles off his fingers, letting them fall to the ground before shoving the guy away. "For starters," he reprimanded, "there's six of us."

"Yeah," the guy groaned, "but you don't look like fighters!" He aimed a hand at Luka, who had an encased violin in one hand; at Meiko, who had a bass in hers; and at Rin, who had a guitar over her shoulder. "You look like musicians!"

" **Glory** musicians," Luka specified.

Their attacker's jaw fell.

Meiko quickly raised her phone, snapping a picture of his face. "Consider yourself barred from the venue," she mused.

The guy quickly took off; Kaito kicked his brass knuckles aside as they resumed walking. "You're still doing that?" Rin observed, her comment aimed at Miku.

" _Maple_ was my second pin," Miku insisted. "Give me a break."

* * *

The group went their separate ways; Meiko intended to book the concert, Kaito had some books to read, Rin and Len were in the middle of an anime binge, and Luka was headed to the karaoke bar in Cybernation Plaza. Miku, meanwhile, had something important she wanted to deal with; she made her way down I_O Walk, and at the centerpoint between Rouge Square and Ashes Square, she slipped between two buildings, finding herself in the garden known as Otherworld's Await.

In the corner of the garden, hidden by the foliage, was an elevator that would take her to the Otherworld - the gathering place for the Reapers of DIVA.

Miku was halfway across the garden when a voice spoke behind her; "You know that thing doesn't work in the RG, right?"

She turned around; Otomachi Una was standing there, dressed spicy with spikes on her eel hat and yellow in her hair. "Una," she greeted. "Is the Game on?"

"No," Una replied, "I-" Her gaze narrowed, and she waved a hand at her side with an irritable "Not now" before continuing, "I was just coming out, actually. Reading the old reports about the Angel incidents. I saw you step in and downshifted."

"I see," Miku mused. Glancing back at the elevator; "What do you mean, it doesn't work in the RG?"

"Cyber Diva set it up ages ago," Una explained. "The buttons are non-responsive unless you touch them at Noise frequency or higher. I don't even know if they'll click in the RG." Then, before Miku could ask who she was talking about; "That's a good question, why  _were_ you coming here?"

"Who are you talking to?" Miku asked.

Una jabbed a finger to the side. "Ryuto."

"Right," Miku mused. "Anyways, I was kind of hoping to talk to Haku. Could you let her know I'm trying to get in touch?"

"I'll do you one better," Una insisted. "I own a sushi restaurant, pretty much on the other side of Matcha and Azuki's place. Stop by tomorrow and I'll make sure Haku's there."

Miku blinked. "You  _own_ a restaurant?" she echoed. Then, before Una could protest; "I mean, I know you don't age in the UG, but I don't think a fake ID would fool anybody when you have a body like  _that_."

Una looked awkward. "My dad owned it," she explained, "and I was in his will. I got a Game long before he died, and he didn't last to Day 3."

"That kind of makes sense."

The Reaper started to take off again; then she halted mid-step, and turned. "Hey, you're right," she murmured (Miku assumed she was talking to Ryuto). Then, speaking louder; "You still wear pins everywhere?"

Miku glanced down at the six pins on her top. "It's just kind of habit," she defended. "After six Games, it doesn't feel right to be..."

She fell quiet, but Una realized what she was saying. "Unarmed," she finished. "Right?"

"...Yeah."

 **Open World!!!** **  
Chapter Closed**  


	2. 12 Days to Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Draco-  
> Just ignore the rose gunning if you hate it that much.
> 
> -Aurya-  
> Riffing on the yaoi fandom is not my problem! Okay, I DO have a problem with the fact that they're riffing on the yaoi fandom, but that's not why I'm blaming your XV craze. Eos is a much more serious environment than Shibuya, it's hard to get in the right mood around that.
> 
> [EDITED: In the wake of Kingdom Hearts III, Shibuya is no longer considered a less serious environment.]

"I think this is the place..."

Noon was fast approaching, and Miku had made her way to the restaurant Una had directed her to meet at - a rather humble-looking place, residing in Diola outside the bounds of DIVA. Uncertain, she stepped inside, finding it's interior to be surprisingly spacious; sure enough, Una was waiting for her just inside dressed sweet, facing perpendicular to the entrance.

"Yeah, but how are you going to-" She fell quiet as she noticed Miku stepping in, turning to reveal an earpiece hooked on one ear. "Oh, Miku!" As the vocalist stepped forward, she elaborated; "She asked for a corner table, come on."

Miku followed as she led the way through the restaurant; sure enough, Yowane Haku was waiting there, waving lightly as they approached. "I understand you've been looking for me."

"You know that sounds really creepy coming from you, right?" Miku reprimanded.

Haku - the current Composer of DIVA, and a formerly Fallen Angel - giggled at that. Una rolled her eyes as the ex-Player took her seat. "I'll have them bring you the full-course, shall I?" Then, as she took off; "Anyways, if you want to try something that big..."

Once she was gone, Miku turned to Haku. "Is she still talking to Ryuto?"

"Yeah," Haku confirmed. "The UG extends all across Diola - it's just that the Reaper's Game only has purview in DIVA."

"Can't Noise still cause trouble if the UG extends over here?"

Haku shook her head. "That's the Composer's job - dragging latent Noise to the bounds of the Game." She sighed. "Gumi's rules said the Reapers weren't allowed to be in the UG outside of DIVA unless something came up... but nobody ever really took that seriously. Eventually, she stopped trying to enforce it outside of making sure everyone was in DIVA during a Game."

Miku fell quiet, contemplative.

"Anyways, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Right," Miku mused. "Um, during my first Game, Cul mentioned that... Kokone ran a charity?"

The question caught Haku by surprise. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Something like that," Miku confirmed; she had texted the others about this last night. "We were... planning a concert. I was thinking maybe we could-"

"When are you booked?"

Haku sounded concerned. "Um..." Miku quickly dug out her phone, checking the message Meiko had sent her that morning. "Twelve days to go," she observed. Then, raising her gaze; "Do you have a Game going on?"

"Not yet," Haku admitted. "I couldn't be outside of DIVA if I did, let alone in the RG without a modulator decal. But that's not the real problem."

Miku was immediately worried. "What is?"

"I have a Game starting in a week," Haku replied, her voice low. "I set the schedule yesterday. This morning, the Producer told me there's something going on in DIVA."

"What!?" Miku just barely managed to keep her exclamation down to a panicked hiss rather than a loud yelp.

"Utau City," Haku explained, hushed. "A Reaper happened to be out of range when the disaster hit. It looks like she's somehow figured out about Gumi's Player Hunt."

"And, what, she's here in retribution?" Miku asked.

"From the looks of it," Haku observed. "Seems like she had some strong opinions about the Reaper's Game."

"Strong like yours?" Miku asked.

"Maybe." Haku shook her head. "I didn't want to bring it up, but Kokone's charity isn't exactly well-known. If you host a concert and send the profits that way, she might put the pieces together with your 'disappearance' and realize you were an ex-Player. And that might put you at risk."

Miku was preparing to be told off for this, but she had to ask. "Is there any way we can help?"

The offer caught Haku by surprise. "You want to help?"

"I can't speak for the others," Miku admitted. "But  **I** want to help. I don't want the Players to suffer because the Game is being messed with." Her gaze fell. "I still remember what Calne Ca did. I don't even want to risk that."

Haku drummed her fingers on the table. "Her score will have been static since the wave," she observed. "The lifespan of a Reaper's wings only ticks by while a Game is on. Which means she should still be able to shift between the UG and RG. The Producer said she had arrived last night, which means the only Game that will affect her is this one." Then, raising her gaze to Miku. "But trying to find a Reaper from the RG is a small chance. And if she _realizes_ that you're trying to find her, it could be dangerous."

"Anything to make the job easier on you," Miku insisted.

A smile rose on Haku's face. "What did DIVA do to deserve you?"

* * *

They had their meal in relative peace; then they took off in separate ways, with Haku giving Miku her number.

"A call won't go through if I'm in the UG," the Composer explained, "but a text will. Send me a message if you notice anything, and I'll call you to get the details."

Miku promised she would, and promptly made her way to rendezvous with the others (everyone was of the opinion that drilling until the concert wouldn't hurt anyone). The rest of Glory Music were waiting for her outside - she was running just a few minutes late, and as she arrived Rin asked, "Where were you?"

"Talking with Haku," Miku explained. "I'll explain inside."

Everyone quickly realized there was something going on. They made their way into the rehearsal studio, where everyone's instruments were already waiting; once the door had closed behind them, Luka asked, "What exactly did you talk about?"

Miku quickly gave them the rundown that Haku had given her; everyone was reasonably concerned to hear that an outsider Reaper was in DIVA with ill intent. None of them felt any need to object to Miku's intention to lend the Reapers a hand - less out of intention to do the same and more because they knew nothing was going to change her mind.

Meiko raised a point; "Even if we did all lend a hand," she added, "what would it achieve? If the Reaper notices someone's looking for her, she'll just switch back to the UG before you can get a good look. I mean, it might help make her a little easier for the collective to notice, but Diola is huge. What are the chances we're gonna find anyone in a place this big?"

"I don't know," Miku admitted. "But I want to do something to help. If there's any chance I can make things easier, I'll take it. I can't let anybody else's Game go the way my last one did."

"I guess that makes sense," Len conceded.

They started to set up for the rehearsal; as they were setting up their sheets, Kaito spoke up.

"I'm just gonna...  _huh_." Everyone turned to him as he continued. "I'm just gonna throw this out there. I'm just spitballing." He raised his gaze from his keyboard. "Did Haku mention what the outsider's  _rank_  had been in Utau City?"

"Um... No," Miku replied, "I don't think she did. But why would it matter?"

Kaito sighed. "Well, how a Reaper scores changes depending on their position, right? And they need to keep score to keep their wings. So if she comes here, she might... still technically have that position, so she'll score the same way. Like, Matcha and Azuki are Support, so they put up walls. And the others are Harriers, so they need to erase Players for a living." His gaze narrowed. "What does the Conductor have to do?"

"I highly doubt having a position like Conductor or Composer will carry over," Luka argued.

Miku's eyes widened. "But if it does..."

"What's wrong?" Kaito asked.

"If she was Composer," Miku murmured, "and she gets even a little resonance from that... the Composer still has her powers in the Realground."

"It couldn't be," Meiko objected. "Haku would have told you if it was the Composer who was absent from the city, that's not something you just ignore."

Luka's gaze fell. "...How does someone become Composer?"

* * *

"That's your plan?"

Naka Gumi - former Composer, currently Harrier - was surprised to hear Haku's intentions. "Have Glory Music herd her into DIVA, start up the Game, and set the Players on her on Day 7?"

"Honestly," Haku argued, "I feel like that's safer than having the Game Master to get fought. Half of us don't know how to lose."

Gumi winced at the subtle reminder of her previous actions. "Still," she argued, "do you really think Hatsune can pull that much off?"

"I don't know for sure," Haku admitted, "but anything could help. I didn't notice her come in."

"That makes sense," Gumi observed. "Composers talk big about being omniscient in their domains, but they just know where are the Reapers are and when a Player gets-"

"Oh, no." Haku's interruption had Gumi turn around to see Akita Neru - current Conductor - step into the Dead God's Pad. "Don't tell me."

"Yeah," Neru confirmed. "New Player."

Haku swore under her breath. "A week from the Game?" she murmured. "I had an even number of Players."

"Somebody's screwed on Day 1 unless you get another casualty," Gumi observed.

Neru glared at her. "You'd better not go out of your way to-"

A ring from the Composer's phone had Haku groaning. "Miku, your timing is terrible." She dug the device out and checked the message.

_How much of a leftover will the new Reaper have from Utau?_

"...Oh, shit."

**Check Check One Two!  
** **Chapter Closed**


	3. 11 Days to Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> Picking out Players is a matter of looking for designs I enjoy (mostly because I don't have experience with anyone's Vocaloids but Crypton's, hate me all you want). Giving the Players pins is often a matter of looking for a design point and picking a song to name it after. Selecting how Players died... makes me feel like a member of the Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee.
> 
> Alright, I'm back in a TWEWY mood, so once this is up I'm gonna start a new game. Sorry if I don't get the next one up with any haste.

"Haku!"

After the realizations of yesterday, everyone in Glory Music had received a message asking to meet atop 39. Now, she and her friends arrived to find Haku waiting there; the Composer turned to them, looking concerned. "Miku, everyone," she greeted.

"You got my message?" Miku asked.

"I did," Haku assured her. "And I realized I missed something big."

"Then there is a leftover?" Len asked. "From whatever the Reaper had in Utau City?"

Haku nodded. "There is. But it's more than that."

"Don't tell me it's the Composer," Luka pleaded.

"In a way, yes," Haku admitted. "The Composer's throne is won by defeating the existing holder - whether it be in combat, or through a test of skills, or with a gamble. But there has to  _be_ a Composer in every Underground. The newcomer will have been the last Reaper in Utau City; that means she'll be the Composer of Utau City by default."

"You're not saying she has a say in the rules of the UG?" Rin asked.

"I'm not," Haku insisted. "As far as DIVA is concerned, she'll just be a Harrier or Support - whichever she was in Utau. But she can still use some abilities in the RG. And that means this is a much bigger problem than I thought it was."

Miku sighed. "Are you saying you can't allow me to help you?"

Haku shook her head. "I'm saying I can't just stand by and leave you undefended. I spoke with the Producer about this; she's given me clearance to take emergency measures. You all got Player Pins from Matcha and Azuki, right?"

Kaito nodded. "Yes, we did. Are you going to do something with these?"

"Hand them here."

Everyone drew their Player Pins; Rin and Len had stuck theirs on their shorts, Kaito's was on the inside of his sleeve, Meiko pinned hers on her belt, and Luka kept hers secured on her boot. Miku had found it most natural in the UG to keep hers in her pocket, triggering it by seizing it in hand - and, still resonating in the RG as she was, she had kept her Player Pin there all the same.

Haku accepted each's one by one, tapping them and causing a brief flash before handing them back to their owners. "This'll last until midnight, the day of your concert," she informed them. "If we still haven't stopped them by then, I'll find you and give you an extension."

"What does it  _do_?" Meiko asked.

"This'll let you see things," Haku explained.

Luka raised an eyebrow. "Like, 'I see dead people' kind of see things?"

Haku giggled briefly, though it faltered before too long. "As long as you have your Player Pins on your person, you'll be able to see the UG," she elaborated. "It'll filter out the Noise, but you can see Reapers and Players. The aftermath of this game will be our first _chance_ for any new Reapers - you need to inform me as soon as you see any you don't know."

"Will do," Miku assured her.

"Don't you have  _any_ information about this stranger?" Meiko asked. "Her name, what she looks like, anything?"

"The Producer said she was 'fluid'," Haku insisted. "I guess that's what happens when you dress differently every other day and treat your hair colour like something to change freely. As for her name... Utau City was huge. And the Game had full range of the city. I can't blame anybody for a poor record of names."

"Fair," Rin conceded.

The group started towards the elevator; Miku stopped mid-pace, turning Haku. "How many Players are in this upcoming Game?"

Haku hoped she wasn't about to do anything reckless, but decided to answer nonetheless. "...Seven."

"But..." Miku shook her head. "If there were that many deaths in DIVA since our Games, we would have noticed, wouldn't we?"

The Composer sighed. "The Underground extends all across Diola," she reminded Miku. "That means that any time a person dies, anywhere in Diola, they become a Player in DIVA. It would hardly be fair to only let those in who died in the one district, would it?"

"I guess that makes sense."

She joined her friends as the elevator arrived, stepping inside; Kaito quickly pressed the button for the bottom floor.

"...If there's seven Players," Luka observed, "that means somebody's not gonna have a partner."

"We can't help that," Rin argued. "We're out of the Game. Haku asking our help doesn't mean we get to jump back into the Game without a good reason."

"I wasn't going to," Luka defended. "With my luck, I'd get involved and then they'd get another Player which means  _I'd_ be the odd one out."

"Since when is your luck  **that** bad?" Len asked.

Luka looked awkward all of a sudden.

Kaito noticed. "What did you run into on Pain Crave Bridge?"

"It wasn't on Pain Crave," Luka insisted. "It was during the Game. Azuki asked me to-"

The elevator dinged on the second floor, and she fell quiet as they turned to the opening doors.

Standing there was a girl who looked to be a few years younger than Rin and Len, with short hair of a colour that seemed to be nearly white. Her skin was tanned deeply, and her eyes were stunning red; she was garbed in a sleeveless hoodie, though the hood was down. Her arms were adorned in what seemed to be tattoos of flames, though only the tips were visible given the massively bulky **gauntlets** currently resting on her hands. A pair of what seemed to be pauldrons rested on her shoulders, connecting to a scorpion's tail that extended down her back and arced out just above the ground... and seemed to  _twitch_ slightly as they got a good look at it. Over one shoulder was a cheap plastic bag so thin they could make out the contents within; a singular roll of toilet paper, a auxilliary cord of a length that implied it was meant for crossing a room, a can of whipped cream, a bottle of expensive perfume, and a bundle of what seemed to be clothespins.

Silence for a long moment. Rin raised a hand with one finger pointing downward; the girl shook her head, and Len quickly hit the button for the ground floor again.

* * *

"Who have we here...?"

That very day, a Reaper found herself standing atop the venue for that upcoming concert. Every Reaper possessed the ability to detect and observe the Soul of those erased; with enough practice, any Reaper would be able to give it form. Alas, the only one with enough power to form that Soul into the same person it had once been was of a position just beneath the Higher Plane, though that hadn't stopped Reapers in the past from binding Soul to pins, or giving it form as Noise.

"Sadness... rage... hatred..." Her eyes closed. "Witness to Angels... Oh, Angels,  _plural_. One revered... and one loathed. That one was responsible for this." A smile rose on her lips. "Oh, I can't say no to that. I'm already stripped for allies; I'll take all the help I can get."

Her eyes snapped open.

"And all the better if that help deserves to be called Cantus."

**Crow Girl  
** **Chapter Closed**


	4. 5 Days to Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> Started writing this to pushed myself to get into a TWEWY mood and play the Solo Remix before the Final Remix is out. Today I realized that maybe playing one version of the game and then immediately continuing into another that might have a totally different control scheme... isn't a good idea.
> 
> Sorry to crush anyone who was expecting a 20-chapter story. I should have mentioned I wasn't going to cover all 13 days before the concert.

"Nothing?"

 _"I'm sorry,"_ Neru pleaded. _"I haven't found anything, Lily hasn't found anything, Ryuto and Una haven't found anything, Cul's **mad** that she hasn't found anything, Gumi and Gakupo have turned up blank, and I saw Glory Music this morning and got nothing."_

Haku swore into the phone. "The Game starts in ten minutes. I really wanted this done before it started." Then, with a sigh; "Alright, I'm gonna tell Miku and the others to come to DIVA. Whatever she's planning, the Reapers and the Players are all going to be in the bounds of the Game. Stay in the RG if you can; they'll have to contact you if they find her while the Game's on."

_"Sounds good. I'll pass anyone's discoveries to you."_

Neru hung up at that, and Haku lowered her phone with a sigh. "Please," she prayed, though she wasn't totally sure to who. "Just let the Game go smoothly. Don't let any more Players suffer for the grudge of someone they've never met."

* * *

"What do you mean,  **stop** looking?"

Miku's exclamation had Haku responding quickly.  _"If she notices you're specifically seeking her out, she'll realize you can see the Game from the RG. I need your search to be passive. Don't **ignore** the UG, necessarily, but just keep your eyes out as you go about your business."_

"Alright," Miku sighed. "But if you don't want us going out of our way, we're pretty much only going to be working around Silent Beat and visits to 39. Maybe a stop by Galaxias after we're all finished."

 _"All I ask is that you be safe,"_ Haku insisted.  _"Reapers and Players are enough to worry about already."_

"We'll be safe," Miku promised.

She was stepping into Ashes Square as Haku killed the call; Miku promptly made to mass-text the rest of Glory Music and let them know. She was in the middle of typing when her phone buzzed; Luka had a text for her.

_Game's on. Player just woke up in Cybernation Plaza. Dressed in purples. Butterflies on her clothes. Jewel in her hair. Dinner at Una's says Day 1 is a trip to 39._

_No sucker bets_ , Miku texted back; then she resumed typing her mass briefing.

* * *

"What have you done to my beautiful self?"

Long white hair done up in a divided tail, with a black streak beyond the tie. Slightly heeled dark boots whose bodies extended nearly to her knees. A black skirt with a white hem like someone had torn paper - yet was not, in fact, frayed, but rather designed that way. A carefully woven mesh sleeve, held in place by bands around her wrist and upper arm, comfortable despite its transparency. A top designed like a corset, but with none of the strict restriction thereof, beneath a short vest that would bare her midriff on its own.

The outfit was an immaculate balance of fashion and function - and its wearer hated every mote of it.

Viola Flower stepped onto Two Kind Walk with a growl of anger; the girl she was now was a tremendously far cry from the girl she had been when she had died. Not two steps onto the street did movement draw her attention; she turned towards it with a glare and found a green  _frog_ standing there, with strange waves in the air forming its legs. As she watched, strange sigils manifested in her vision, from which emerged more such frogs; then they began to hop towards her.

"Dammit..." Her hands dug into her pockets, looking for pins, before she realized what she was missing. "Partner. Right. Dammit!" Turning on her heel, Flower charged in the direction of Aqua Street; to her somewhat pleasant surprise, she found someone else being chased by similar frogs. A girl in a black tailcoat, with hair somewhere between red and blonde, drawn into a sidetail.

"Hey, you!"

* * *

"Come on, that's not even fair!"

A youthful figure in an attention-grabbing red outfit found herself dashing through Rouge Square after a failed attempt of fleeing from the Garden of the White Knight. Her head was covered by a large red helmet with feline ears, but she had discovered the hard way that it offer her no protection in this situation.

Nekomura Iroha quickly ducked onto Aqua Street, trying to put some distance between herself and the frogs on her tail; yet glancing back revealed them hopping after her, despite the speed of their movement showing no indicator that they should be keeping up that well. As she turned back forward, she saw someone else dashing past her in a similar hurry - a girl in a white tailcoat with orange-ish hair cut short - and she quickly skidded into a stop, yelling, "Hey!"

The girl turned around, looking startled. "Who?"

"Me!" Iroha called, stepping forward. "Are you a Player?"

"What?" The girl glanced around, concerned. "Where are you? Who's there?"

"I'm right in front of you!" Iroha insisted. "Come on, please! Make a pact with me!"

To her concern, the girl seemed unable to aim her gaze in the right direction. "Where are you? How do I do this?"

Iroha shook her head. "Just say yes! That should be enough! Please! I need a partner!"

"I... Okay. I... I accept."

* * *

"Is that... Oh no."

A woman in white with long blue hair was dashing down Snowdust Street from Swordsman's Square, and was deeply concerned by what she found. A very young girl who looked like she was of elementary-school age was standing just off the intersection with Aqua Street... and was surrounded by frogs. One tried to leap at her, causing her to back away frightenedly; another hopped at her from behind, and she quickly stepped forward.

Tohoku Zunko quickly redoubled her pace, calling, "Little one!" The girl raised her gaze as she neared; she quickly leapt into the ring of enemies and knelt down. "Are you a Player? Join with me!"

She offered her hand, and the girl set hers on it lightly - a blue light washed up around them, causing the girl to close her eyes briefly. As it faded, Zunko quickly got to her feet, drawing out the pin she had found earlier. "Now, how does this work...?"

A light shone in her other hand, extending from either side of her palm; and as she closed her fingers, she found herself holding a bow as long as she was tall.

"That'll do just fine..."

* * *

"Made it..."

A girl dressed in purples, with butterflies on her clothes and jewels in her hair, dashed into the plaza surrounding the 39 Building. "Alright, time?" She glanced at her palm, finding the crimson timer that had appeared there with a strike of pain in Cybernation had disappeared.

Aoki Merli sighed in relief. "That's one down." She glanced back the way she'd come to find frogs still chasing her. "Still got two to go. I need a partner. She glanced around to find a girl dashing almost perpendicular to her, dressed in very bright purple with a black hoodie over it. "Hey, are you a Player?"

The hoodie girl turned towards her. "You need a pact?"

"Are you going to act like you don't?" Merli demanded, dashing forward.

"Oh, what the hell," the stranger mused, making to approach. "I could do worse."

They were nearly at arm's length when a wave of dizziness hit with ferocity; Merli found herself stumbling, and as her vision began to darken she found the pavement coming up quickly before her.

**Paradox  
** **Chapter Closed**


	5. 4 Days to Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> I previously established that DIVA's UG doesn't normally have the "pact mandatory to clear Day 1" term, and thought it might be fun to establish why Shibuya's DOES.

"That's the light setup taken care of..."

Miku hopped off the stage as Rin and Len approached. "Sound test?"

"Full range," Len confirmed. "Not totally sure why you expected otherwise."

"We did kind of tear things out of the roof on my first week," Miku admitted.

"Justified," Rin conceded. Then; "I thought yours were all direct hits."

Miku glanced down at the set pinned to her shirt. "I'm not the one who tore them," she admitted. "Luka had the telekinetics."

Someone stepped inside; they turned to find Kaito stepping inside, scratching at his head. "Hey," he called. "Things looking good?"

"Lights and sound," Rin assured him. "What's with the look?"

Kaito sighed. "It's kind of stupid," he admitted, "but... Day 1 doesn't last long enough to do any shopping, right?"

"Sixty minutes to find a partner and get to 39," Miku observed. "Always ended up conking out pretty quick after I got there."

"Yeah." Kaito sighed. "Well, I saw a Player in Tengaku yesterday. And just outside, I thought I saw the same Player... but she's in a totally different outfit. And I think she cut her hair."

"Weird," Len mused. "You sure it's the same Player?"

"Pretty sure," Kaito insisted. "Same face, same figure, same body language. Same hair, just a different style. Who else would it be if it wasn't the same person?"

Rin and Len both raised an eyebrow at him.

* * *

Merli opened her eyes.

39 was gone from around her; she was lying in Rouge Square. The girl in the hoodie was kneeling before her, looking irritable; as Merli started to rise, she demanded; "Why the  **hell**  would you go for the mission goal  _before_  you found a partner?"

"Says the pot to the kettle," Merli argued, pushing herself to her feet. "You were in the 39 plaza without a partner, same as I was."

"I wasn't  _trying_  to get the mission done," the hood argued. "I just don't know my way around this place."

Merli scoffed. "How can you live in this city and not know your way around DIVA District?"

The hoodie girl was about to respond when a croaking sounded from nearby; Merli turned to find the frog Noise that had been chasing her yesterday were standing there. "Shit," the stranger muttered. "You gonna make a pact with me or what?" She held out a hand.

"I said as much, didn't I?" Merli argued; and she set her hand on the girl's.

A blue light surged up around them, the hoodie girl pulled her hand away, prompting Merli to dig hers into her pocket and draw out the pins she had found yesterday. One had a four-pointed shape like the jewel in her hair, silver against purple; the other had a more traditional brilliant-cut silhouette, white against blue. "Now, how do these work?" As one frog started hopping forward, she thrust her hand towards it - and something started to rise out of the pavement beneath it.

A small spike of blue, just barely large enough to strike the Noise.

With a huff, Merli willed it to get bigger; and with three quick surges, it did; one to arm's length out of the road, throwing the Noise into the air, then again to a height Merli was head-and-shoulders above, and then once more to a height towering over her. Her partner swung her hand out, causing a sphere of crimson to appear in her grip; she promptly tossed it forward, causing it to hit the ground and then go still as the rest of the frog started to hop forward.

Then, after a moment, it  _blast_ , taking out the lot of their aquatic foes.

The civilians around them faded back in, and the hoodie girl sighed. "You got a name?"

"Aoki Merli. And you?"

"Yuzuki Yukari."

A buzz from her pocket interrupted Merli's response; she quickly drew out her device, realizing how stupid it was to have it on vibrate in the Game, and quickly turned the volume on before checking the message.

_Mission: Break down the walls on Pain Crave Bridge._   
_You have 150 minutes._   
_Fail, and face erasure._   
_~The Reapers_

"Break down walls?" Merli murmured. "Are they expecting me to tear down the fenc- _Ow!_ " She yelped as the timer hit, glancing at her palm to see the  **149:59**  counting down. "That's gonna take some getting used to."

"They're not talking about actual physical walls," Yukari reprimanded.

Merli turned to her. "How do you know?"

"Let's just say that I know you'll be used to it by Day 7 and not talk about it anymore," Yukari said firmly, turning and making to walk away.

"Hey!"

Yukari halted. "I said-"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Merli insisted. "Pain Crave is this way."

"...Oh."

* * *

"So what are these 'walls' they want us to break down?"

Flower sighed. "No idea." She had discovered yesterday that her partner - the black-clad girl she had run into on Aqua Street - could remember little but the name "Kanon", which appeared to be her own. That turned out to include DIVA; Flower, who didn't exactly want to hog this 'another chance at life' thing to herself, was relieved that the amnesiac had paired up with someone who  **did**  remember DIVA.

The two had started in Ashes Square and were making their way down I_O Walk when a voice reached them from behind. "What the-?!"

Kanon turned... and froze. Standing there, roughly fifteen paces away, was a girl who seemed to be nearly a mirror image to herself. Their bodies bore the same figure, and their clothes were of the same fashion despite being opposite colours - Kanon in black, the other in white. Their skin was of the same tone, their eyes the same colour, and their hair the same hue; Kanon's was in a waist-length sidetail, while the other's hadn't length for tails of any sort. Even their body language was similar; the motions of one who was relying on muscle memory to do so much as move her feet.

As they warily approached one another, a voice emerged from the side. "What is this?"

"Who-!?" Flower swung her hand wildly at the air beside her, panicking; Kanon spun towards the sound, though her mirror image only turned to face it. "Who's there?"

"Seriously?" The voice seemed to be emerging from midair. "Can  **nobody** see me?"

The other-Kanon spoke up. "She's not an enemy," she said slowly. "She made a pact with me. She's my partner."

Flower glanced around. "Where are you?"

"On your left," the voice replied, causing Flower to stop her movements abruptly. Slowly, she turned her head to the left, and the voice calibrated; "Little more... Stop." Her rotation halted. "You're looking right at me. Can't you see me?"

"I can't," Flower insisted. "Who are you?"

"She said her name's Iroha," the other-Kanon explained. "And my name's Anon... I think."

"Anon... and Kanon..." Flower shook her head. "That can't be a coincidence."

"This is so messed up on so many levels," the voice, Iroha, muttered. "She's stuck in this freaky Game, she can't remember anything, and now she runs into-"

"Can't what?" Flower glanced at Iroha('s general direction) before turning back to the two mirrors. "You don't have your memory either?"

"Either?" Anon turned to Kanon. "You mean you...?"

"No," Kanon confirmed. "I can't..."

Flower crossed her arms. "The Reapers," she murmured. "Did the Reapers in charge of this Game do this on purpose? Take their memory so they couldn't recognize each other?"

"To what end?" Iroha asked. "What's the point of keeping them from knowing each other?"

The two identical strangers found themselves contemplating that very question.

* * *

"Little one, wait!"

Zunko had discovered the hard way that her partner - who had introduced herself yesterday as Kaai Yuki - had no interest in conversation. She had remained silent after they had woken in Cybernation Plaza, letting Zunko contemplate the Game without comment; as soon as the mission had come in, Yuki had taken off down Amaretto.

She had reached the intersection with I_O Walk when Zunko caught up, catching her by the arm and causing the girl to turn around. "You can't just take off like that," Zunko reprimanded, kneeling down to speak level with her.

"...We have to do the mission, right?" Yuki asked. "Why shouldn't I go there right away?" She didn't sound like she was very interested in the answer.

"You need to have a partner in this Game, remember?" Zunko reminded her. "I know we're already partners, but if you're too far away, it might stop our pins from working."

"She's right, you know."

The voice from nearby drew her attention, and Zunko shot to her feet, taking a ready stance to draw her bow; Yuki only turned towards the individual standing there. A motorcycle was sitting in the middle of the street, and sitting sidesaddle upon it was a female figure with long blonde hair. Her body was clad in sparse amounts of black and white, and a pair of skeletal black wings emerged from her back. "It's not even really that far. If you're on opposite ends of Fire Child, your pins won't do naught."

Yuki took a couple small steps forward. "Are you a... Reaper?"

"That's right, kid," the biker confirmed, pulling herself off the seat and taking a few steps forward. "My name's Lily. What about you?"

"...Yuki."

"Oh, tough little one." Lily knelt down as Zunko had, though still staying a bit away to avoid provoking her. "Not scared of Reapers, kid? That's brave of you. I think you're the youngest Player we've ever had."

Her words caused Yuki's gaze to fall. "That's not really... brave," she murmured.

Lily blinked. "Why do you say that?"

"Sensei told me... Brave isn't not being scared. It's not letting being scared stop you." Yuki shook her head. "I'm not scared... so I'm not really brave, right?"

Zunko set a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Your Sensei's right," she observed. "But do you mean you're not scared at all? Even a little?"

Yuki shook her head. "No," she confirmed. "I know I should be, but... I'm not scared."

Lily frowned. "What about the Noise?" she asked. "The monsters you're fighting. Do those scare you?"

"No," Yuki admitted. "But they're just big frogs with weird lines."

Both Lily and Zunko found themselves giggling at that. She did have something of a point; the Noise they'd fought so far  _were_ just big frogs with weird lines, and if she was too innocent to be unsettled by the unnatural nature of those lines, they weren't really all that scary after all. "Not all of them," Lily admitted. "Some Noise are bigger monsters. Like..."

She snapped her fingers, causing a sigil to appear nearby; Zunko started as the civilians around them faded, and something leapt from the sigil, a grey wolf with blue waves in place of its forelegs and tail. Zunko drew her bow, but Lily only raised her hand insistently. "This is a Noise, too," she said to Yuki. "Does this scare you?"

It charged forward; Lily tried to grab it by the tail and missed it by moments. Zunko pulled on the string of her bow, an arrow manifesting in her grip, and Yuki raised her hand, causing a thin, nearly transparent wall to appear between her and the Noise. It collided roughly with the barrier, and Zunko loosed her arrow, causing it to flash from the cross combo.

"...It doesn't scare me," Yuki murmured. "I should be scared, but... I'm not."

Lily swung her hand down, causing the Noise to fade out. "If you know you should be scared," the Reaper asked, "why aren't you?"

"I don't know," Yuki admitted. "I don't know why I'm not scared like I should be. It..." She shook her head. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"...I'll get back to you on that," Lily sighed. "Go on. Head to the mission if you want."

She mounted her bike again, and Yuki covered her ears as she took off down Amaretto, engine roaring.

* * *

"Wall clear."

Two Reapers who had introduced themselves as Matcha and Cul had been guarding barriers along the length of the bridge; each had given Merli and Yukari a task to complete, and once they were done, the barriers had been shut down. Now, as they continued down, they found one more individual standing there; a figure with rainbow streaks in her bangs, with a white jacket over clothes that looked like a shot of space.

Merli raised a finger for a moment and then aimed a finger at her. "Something about you looks familiar."

"My name's Galaco," she introduced. "I induct Players into the Reaper's Game. After one too many Games in quick succession, I started sounding like an annoyed  _bitch_ to Players who totally didn't deserve it, so I had the higher-ups start blocking off the memories. Think it ended up with a double-edged effect. Sorry."

"You got a job for us or not?" Yukari asked.

"Right," Galaco mused. "My terms; erase the following Noise without a cross combo."

"Cross what?" Merli asked.

"You notice how they flash when you both hit them in succession?" Galaco asked. "That's a cross combo. If you both hit one at the same time, I'm willing to just cut them off and give you a new batch if you're not trying to practice something."

Merli shook her head. "I doubt it'll be necessary," she admitted, "but thanks for the offer."

Galaco raised a hand to her mouth and whistled, causing several Noise sigils to appear at her sides; from them leapt a pair of grey wolves and three of the green frogs from earlier. Yukari and Merli quickly leapt to opposite sides of the bridge; the wolves both charged Merli, prompting her to impale one with the four rises of her icicle and leap aside from the other; once the frogs were near enough, Yukari dropped her time bomb on the group and stepped back to let it blow. Once the smoke cleared, she raised her gaze to find Merli just taking one wolf out; she quickly yelled, "Hold up, blue!" and hurled another bomb to hit the ground in the vicinity of the other one.

The wolf leapt at Merli, who sidestepped; then it leapt back... and the blast went off.

"...I thought that skimmed my ice," Merli sighed. "That didn't cross?"

Her question was aimed at Galaco, who shook her head. "No, it didn't," she assured. "Wall clear." She touched one hand to the barrier, causing it to vanish, before making to step away; then she halted, turning towards them. "Oh, and... Knowing Azuki, she's gonna ask you for something from Galaxias."

"What's Galaxias?" Yukari asked.

Galaco raised a hand, holding a bar labeled _Stardust_. "My sweets shop."

* * *

"You know, I would be mad at you for that, but... I don't want to."

Gumi was sitting at the edge of Fire Child Sports Park as Lily pulled up, having seen what had transpired at the intersection. "Never seen a kid that young in the Game before," Lily admitted. "Ryuto was older than that, wasn't he?"

"Pretty sure," Gumi confirmed.

Lily sighed, dismounting her bike. "Wish Haku would've warned me," she sighed. "What did she take?"

"What did she have  _to_ take?" Gumi wondered. "What does a kid that young even have to cherish?"

A moment's quiet; then Lily turned to her. "You sure about this Game?"

"A situation like this?" Gumi asked. "With an outsider about to cause trouble? Who better to be Game Master than the ex-Composer who dealt with two different Taboo makers?"

"...You think she'd try that?" Lily wondered. "Taboo Noise? I mean, if she's pseudo-Composer, the Higher Plane wouldn't just sit back and let her draw it, would they?"

Gumi shook her head. "I hope not," she admitted. "But... better safe than sorry."

**Critical Values  
** **Chapter Closed**


	6. 3 Days to Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> Good news: He's not playing XV anymore. Bad news: Octopath Traveler's mood is all over the place. And trying to talk tactics just makes my head hurt, because it's impossible to have full range with a group of four.

"You want us to _what_?"

Gumi's exclamation had Miku shaking her head. "I'm not gonna make you come," she insisted. "But tell all the Reapers they're invited. You don't even have to be in the RG; you're free to camp out on the upper level or stalk around the mosh pit." She shook her head. "I'd say the same goes for the Players... but that's gonna be Day 6. I doubt you're gonna waste time that late into the Game.

The Game Master shook her head. "Hatsune, setting aside the fact that we really haven't done anything to deserve that... the outsider is still unaccounted for. If we don't find her before the concert..."

"I know," Miku insisted. "All the Reapers, and maybe all the Players, in one place? At a concert full of Game survivors?  _How can she pass up on the opportunity?_ "

Her comment caught Gumi off-guard. "You... You're going to offer yourself up as a target to try and bait her out?"

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Miku admitted. "I really hope we can find her before the show. But if not, what better way to find her than to provoke her into coming out?"

"...I guess that's one way to do it," Gumi conceded. "But I'm gonna have to ask Haku if it's safe to risk something like that."

Miku nodded. "As long as you know you're welcome."

* * *

When Flower opened her eyes, she was lying in Swordsman's Square. Kanon was on her feet already, and as she rose the amnesiac greeted her with a murmured, "Hey."

"Hey." Flower shook her head. "You still worried about yesterday?"

"No," Kanon insisted. "I mean... I am kind of worried. But worrying about it isn't going to do my existence any good. Better if we just focus on the Game."

"Appreciate it."

A different tone emerged from each of their pockets; today's mission had come in.

 _Mission: Clear the skies above the heart of DIVA._  
_You have 90 minutes._  
_Fail, and face erasure._  
_~The Reapers_

"DIVA?" Kanon mused. "I thought it was called 'DIVA  _District_ '."

"Well-" Flower was cut off as the timers appeared; she raised her hand to her mouth and blew across her palm before continuing. "Well, 'DIVA' is an acronym for 'District of Imaginative and Vocal Attitudes'. I guess the Reapers think calling it 'DIVA District' sounds stupid."

"That's kind of pretentious," Kanon observed.

* * *

"Who thinks about a 'heart' and imagines something  _sticking out of the body?_ "

Yukari's comment as she approached 39 had her partner laughing. "Well, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of morbid," Merli admitted. "But then again, I suppose morbid imagery doesn't unsettle you as much when you're already dead."

The two made their way into the building; Merli noticed the looks she got as she stumbled on the threshold and realized that this place was an exception to the whole 'nobody in DIVA District can see the Game' rule. Yukari was already halfway across the ground floor; she reached the elevator wall and looked over the listing to see if any of them could reach the rooftop. "Well, that's a stupid setup," she muttered, "making you take this one."

No response.

"Blue?" She turned to find Merli standing a good distance away; she wasn't moving, instead remaining in place with her gaze on one of the storefronts. Yukari quickly charged forward and grabbed her shoulder. "Hey, blue, what are you doing?"

"That's Cryptic Confectionery," Merli murmured.

Yukari followed her gaze to the storefront; hanging over the entrance was an extremely fluid cursive that vaguely resembled the word  _Cryptic_ , with more businesslike letters lying under it to read  _Confectionery_. "What about it?"

Merli drew out her phone, checking the time. "It's 4:20," she observed. "My little sister, Lapis - every day, she comes in here by 4:13 at the latest, and she grabs the biggest stick of cotton candy they sell, and she sits down here and people-watches until the stick is empty."

Even with little interest in her partner's sentimentals, Yukari knew that shouldn't make sense; glancing inside revealed sticks of cotton candy the size of her head. "How fast does she finish?"

"Quickest she was ever through it was ten minutes," Merli replied. "And she thought she was about to throw up. She's taken her time ever since."

"Does she ever come here without you?" Yukari asked.

"All the time," Merli confirmed. "Where is she?"

Someone collided with Yukari's back, knocking her into Merli and causing them both to stumble; a rushed voice called "Sorry!" in their direction, and as they turned they saw three figures approaching the central elevator - a short-haired girl in a white tailcoat, a very young girl in red, and a brunette woman in white and green. Merli was snapped out of her reverie, and she and Yukari charged the elevator after them. "Mind if we join you?"

"Sure, I guess," the woman assured her, hitting the button to call the elevator down.

The young girl touched her arm lightly. "They're with us," she observed.

"Are they?" The woman turned towards Merli. "Oh, you're Players, too?"

"Too?" Merli gave her a quick once-over and saw the Player Pin on her top; a quick glance at her companions revealed they all had the same. "Well, that makes things easier."

"It might," the girl in white observed.

The elevator dinged as it opened; the three of them quickly stepped inside. The door was just about to close when someone called from outside, "Hold the elevator!"

"No," Yukari muttered.

"Yes," Merli reprimanded, blocking the door.

Two more individuals stepped in, both of them wearing Player Pins as well; a white-haired girl with a black streak and clothes that were hard to describe, and a sidetailed girl in a black tailcoat... who looked like the white-coat's mirror image.

"Called it," Merli mused.

"Eight Players," the white-haired girl observed. "Here's hoping they were only expecting two to make the roof."

"I'm not gonna get my hopes up," said a voice from Yukari's right.

The space to Yukari's right was  _empty_ ; she quickly spun around and swung her fist forward, and she felt it collide with someone. A yell of pain had her, Merli, the brunette woman, and the little girl all stepping away, and the voice protested, "That's my eye, you punk!"

"What's this?" Yukari demanded. "Rogue Soul with a corporeal form?"

"I'm a Player!" the voice objected. "That's why Flower said eight! Can't  **anybody**  see me?"

Quiet... and then everybody shook their head.

The voice made a sound like its owner had been about to swear and accounted for the child in the room at the last second. "At least that'll make fighting Reapers easier."

"Can we do names?" Merli asked. "I'm Aoki Merli."

"Yuzuki Yukari."

The little girl raised her hand. "I'm Kaai Yuki."

"Tohoku Zunko," introduced the brunette woman.

"Anon," replied the white-coat.

"Kanon," added the black-coat.

"Viola Flower."

"Nekomura Iroha," finished the voice. Then, "Aw, man, that's a bruise. You gave me a black eye."

"You spoke into my ear from an empty corner," Yukari reprimanded.

"It's an elevator," Iroha defended, "there's not a lot of room!"

Merli shook her head. "Can we not fight, please?" she insisted. "Iroha? You said something about fighting Reapers. How do you know we're gonna fight any Reapers?"

"Part of me is hoping we don't," Iroha argued. "But then the rest of me points out that we're in the  _Reaper's Game_ , and kicks that part across the-"

Zunko reached her hand towards the empty space in the manner of one trying to cover a person's mouth.

"...That's my ear."

"Can we focus on the mission, please," Flower reprimanded. "The message said 'Claim the skies'. If there are flying Noise up there, we can't just brute-force things."

"Speaking from experience," Yukari argued, "Noise don't exactly do tactics. Unless someone's got enough range to risk friendly fire, brute force should work fine."

Quiet... and then Zunko, Yuki, and Kanon awkwardly raised their hands, followed by an invisible tap on Yukari's shoulder in lieu of Iroha doing the same.

"Glorious," Yukari muttered. "Well, let's see the top of the thing first, then we can plan."

As though on cue, the elevator dinged, revealing the rooftop plaza; Flower glanced outside, looking around the rooftop. 39 was a roughly hexagonal building, and uniform up all seven floors; a quick touch of her Player Pin revealed the Noise lying in wait. "Bats," she observed. "Lots of them, but pretty small. What kind of range are we talking about, here?"

"My pin makes wind," Iroha explained. "Not actual wind, but like, anime-style flying blades wind."

"Mine generates lightning," Kanon offered. "Orbs that I can throw around."

"Mine makes walls," Yuki said quietly. "Invisible walls that hurt the Noises when they run into them."

"I have a bow," Zunko summed up.

Yukari sighed. "Actually, I guess I've kind of got range, too. But it doesn't hurt my partner, I don't know if it can hurt you guys."

"Let's not risk it," Merli argued. "How about Zunko, Kanon, and Iroha in the middle, going out? Take a third of the rooftop as your attack range and don't turn more than 120." Kneeling down to face Yuki; "Maybe you can stay with them and guard. Put your walls between them and the Noise."

"I can do that," Yuki murmured.

"What do everyone else's pins do?" Merli asked, rising up. "I've got ice coming up from below, and Yukari's got grenade balls."

"Flames," Anon replied. "On my hands, for punching with. Maybe on my feet if I try to kick."

"If I get moving faster than a stroll, I'm a cannonball," Flower offered. "Noise go flying."

Yukari turned to Merli. "Don't you have two pins?"

"Yeah," Merli admitted, "but the other one doesn't do anything. I think it's just here to psych me out."

The hoodie girl snickered.

"Okay, we have our tactics," Iroha insisted. "Let's get in position and get going."

Zunko, Yuki, and Kanon quickly dashed out, and the Noise began to appear around them - a horde of minute bats. They came to a stop in the center of the rooftop plaza, with Zunko facing one way and Kanon facing another; Yuki stopped between them and waited until Iroha said "I'm here!" before she started to form gleaming walls in a ring around the four of them. Zunko drew her bow, seizing the bowstring and causing an arrow to appear as she drew it back; Kanon raised a hand at her side, and voltage began to dance around her fingers, gathering into a sphere.

Blades of wind shot from the third point on their triangle, slicing through the bats with ease; Zunko's first arrow alone pierced several bats and left them fading out, and Kanon's lightning hit one and  _burst_.

"Second wave!" Flower called, charging forward - and her entire body was wrapped in a barrier of red and blue that left a streak in the air behind her - and sent Noise tumbling about. Anon dashed out and drew her fist back, flames gathering around it as she slugged the nearest bat; Yukari stepped out of the elevator with a twist, one of her bombs appearing in her grip as she turned to hurl it clear across the rooftop.

Merli stepped out and rose her spike of ice; on the third segement, it faded one bat and skimmed two more, and on the fourth it punched through three entire.

It didn't take long before the bats were gone - but they weren't the only targets on the rooftop. Several sigils appeared in the air around them, and from them emerged more Noise - broad-winged ravens with heads and half of their feathers formed from lines. There were more than enough of them to make up for the absence of the bats; they also took considerably more blows to deal with, and it wasn't long before one manage to swoop over Yuki's walls and glance its talons across Zunko's top.

Her bow vanished.

"What-!?" She reached for her pin in surprise, only to find it missing. "No, it got my pin!"

Kanon turned. "Don't-!"

She charged forward, slipping between two of Yuki's walls and dashing after the offending Noise - only for several more to swoop towards her; she stumbled back, but ended up taking several lashes across her arms in her attempt to evade. "I need that back!"

Merli scanned the Noise to try and see the odd one out, catching the gleam of her pin in one's talons; she tried to impale it on her ice, only for it to rise too slowly and the raven to flap away before it could strike. Flower managed to charge towards it, throwing birds aside and tackling the one with the pin to startle its talons; she quickly seized the falling pin and tossed it back at Zunko, who caught it and kept it in her hand as her bow reappeared.

Iroha's blades came flying narrowly towards her as she started to fire again - now stuck in the middle of the crowd.

It was a bit of a struggle with their tactics undermined, but soon enough the only things on the rooftop were Players; everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Yuki sat down as their formation broke. "Looks like they picked quantity over quality," Iroha's voice sighed.

"Says enough Players for a maxed-out Smash."

Everyone turned in the direction of that voice - standing atop the elevator housing were a pair of youthful-looking individuals with skeletal black wings emerging from their back. One was a boy just a couple years older than Yuki, dressed in green with matching hair; his wings were so big as to drag on the ground as he walked, and he had a sinister grin on his face. The other was a girl a couple years older still, in a black jacket with open sleeves and an eel hat bearing yellow spikes, bearing blue hair streaked with yellow in several places; her wings were much smaller, barely as long as her torso was tall, and her smile was more amused than anything.

Merli glared. "Reapers!"

"Not just Reapers, bluebird," the green one argued, leaping down with his wings wide. "Harriers. We're the ones here to mess with you."

"You-!"

The blue one raised a finger, shaking it reprimandingly. "Ah, ah, ah," she taunted. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't!" Merli demanded.

"Well, for one thing..." The eel-hat Reaper leapt down, landing at the green one's side. "If you think quality's more important than quantity, then I would point out that  _one_ Harrier would be superior to the eight of you."

Iroha's groan emerged from the middle of the plaza. "Seriously? The  _Reapers_ can see me?"

"And for another thing," the Reaper continued, heedless of the interruption, the Game has rules. Reapers aren't allowed to hurt the Players directly until Day 7, and even then only the Game Master is permit.  _Unless_ the Players hurt us first - then we get free reign." She raised her hand, revealing a microphone in it that she was brandishing like a dagger. "So. You still gonna try?"

Merli glared. "Worth it to find out what you did to my sister!"

"Your  _sister_?" the green Reaper mused. Glancing around the rooftop; "None of the rest look much like you."

"She didn't die!" Merli confirmed. "So what did you do to her?!"

He sighed. "I think I see what's going on," she murmured. Turning to the blue one; "Galaco's gotta start talking about this on the induction." Then, as he faced Merli again; "You care about her, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Merli reprimanded.

"No, like, you  _really_ care about her," the eel-hat insisted. "Not just obligatory 'I won't hurt you if you behave' shit. She's important to you. Maybe even above all else."

A moment of quiet... and then Merli, Zunko, Yukari, Anon, Kanon, and (unseen) Iroha all stepped back, their faces contorting into expressions of disgust. Yuki glanced between them, not understanding.

"I really hope that doesn't mean what I think it means," Zunko warned.

"If it means what you think it means, the answer is no," Merli insisted.

"It absolutely  _does not_ mean what you think it means!" the blue Reaper insisted, her face turning bright red. "You're dead - you're playing for another chance at life. Did you really think something like that would come  _free?_ "

Concern wrought the rooftop. "What do you mean?"

The green Reaper shook his head. "If you want to play the Reaper's Game, you've got to pay the toll. From every Player who enters the Underground, we take a fee. Now, that fee is different for every Player, and sometimes different between Games, but it is always what you value most. And a lot of people most value something about themselves. Like their look, or their feelings, or their memories."

Flower glanced down at her hands.

Yuki set a hand over her head.

Anon and Kanon exchanged uncertain glances.

"But every so often," the Reaper continued, "we get someone who cares more about someone else than they do themselves."

"And," the eel-hat mused, "if that someone else is already part of the Game, we take from  _them_ what is cared most about by who _values_ them. Because they deserve a chance too...."

She raised a hand, middle and ring fingers closed, index, pinky, and thumb extended.

"...so we can't take them entire."

Merli glared. "You what!?"

"That's right, bluebird," the green one mused. "If your sister isn't where she should be, that's all on you. That's because you care more about her than you do yourself."

"How do I get her back!?" Merli demanded

"You wanna know how?" the blue one asked. "Oh, why should I just  _tell_ you?"

" _Tell me!_ " Merli yelled.

The Reaper giggled, stepping towards the edge of the roof. "Alright," she taunted. "I guess I can give you a hint."

Silence on the rooftop, save for the howling of the wind.

"On Day 7."

Her body faded to silhouette, and then her shadow faded into the air.

The green one sighed, charging the rim where she had been. "Show-off!"

Nobody could stop him before he leapt the rooftop after her; and the sound of his wings screaming against the wall of 39 were audible until he was halfway down the building.

"No..." Merli fell to her knees. "Lapis..." She shook her head. "I can't... I can't let that happen! I have to survive in this world!"

A hand on her shoulder; Yuki had gotten to her feet, and was now standing at her side. "You will," she assured. "We'll make sure you last to Day 7. You can get your sister back."

"Don't count on it," Yukari snapped. "Harriers eat Players for a living. They're going to erase someone. And if you're that driven, it's just going to urge them to try harder."

"Then we can try harder back," Iroha argued. "If we all work together-"

Yukari laughed - a bitter, disgusted laugh that echoed across the rooftop, earning her everyone's attention. "Work together?" she asked. "You want to try that? You're going to give up your chance at life, just to help someone who's not even a part of the Game?"

"What do you mean, give up your chance?" Zunko demanded.

"The Reapers don't bring back _everyone_ who survives the Game," Yukari spat. "They score us - completing missions, and fighting Noise. Even if one pair of partners survives, one could go back, and the other could get left in the UG. It's not a co-op Game - it's a  _competition_. And all the other Players are your opponents. Are you going to throw yourself away just to help blue get her sister back?"

"Yes."

Yuki's quiet murmur wiped the bitter smile off Yukari's face, earning her gaze - and Merli's. "What?"

"She's gone to let Merli play the Game," Yuki said quietly. "That's not fair. That's not right. She didn't do anything to be hurt like that. So I want her to get back."

"And you're okay with not getting back?" Yukari asked. "You're okay with being stuck in the Game because you helped the little sister be okay?"

Yuki bowed her head, closing her eyes. "...Yes."

A small tear trickled down her cheek as the rooftop plaza fell silent.

  **SWALLOWTAIL ON THE SPIDER'z NET  
****Chapter Closed**


	7. 2 Days to Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> We haven't had the game for a week, Draco's shipping based on minor points about their early-game lives, I'm shipping based on their path actions, and we're both horrible people.
> 
> Also, google "Noctis reacts to beans" and click the video that shows up as the first result to understand the tone and attitude of a certain line in this chapter.

"Okay, there's trying to draw her out, and then there's  _this_."

Luka's comment earned her a look as Miku stepped back from her handiwork. "What?" the vocalist asked. "Too subtle?"

"Overlooking minor transgressions of the Game rules is subtle," Luka argued. "Keeping you in the Game on the grounds of not judging you based on the  _four weeks_  before your most recent is subtle. Drawing a giant Game skull on the backdrop is _gothic_."

Miku shook her head. "Haku said it doesn't work like a modulator decal at that size no matter what anybody does to it, and this way she'll know that I know the Game in case I don't give off the right vibes."

Luka sighed. "Miku, your script says 'Realground'. That's not even a  _word_ outside of the Game. What part of that doesn't give off the right vibes?"

The door opened as Meiko stepped in. "Hey," she called, "how your artwork go _ddammit_ Miku."

Her reaction earned her a fit of giggles from Miku. "What can I say?" she mused. "I don't do things by halves."

"No kidding," Luka sighed. "Gumi thinks you're nothing but a sweet sound, and the Games she put you through gave you inspiration to write  _six songs_. Haku said she'd appreciate you looking for the outsider, and you went stalking Diola every night until the Game started."

"You know," Meiko mused, "I really hope you have a plan for if you  _do_ get the outsider's attention."

Miku nodded. "Don't worry. I do."

* * *

When Iroha woke up, she was surprised to find a significantly larger group than usual surrounding her. It seems the Reapers had heard their intentions to work together; Yukari, Merli, Anon, Kanon, Zunko, Yuki, and Flower were all lying there, slowly starting to rise. Well, most of them were starting to rise; Yukari was sitting cross-legged, facing the Flower Fight Memorial.

"Morning." Her tone made it clear that 'Good' was not to be assumed to precede 'morning'.

Merli glanced around the group. "Did you guys mean what you said?" she asked. "About wanting to help me through this Game?"

"Well, I want to," Yuki insisted.

"I'm not gonna leave you out to dry," Zunko proclaimed.

"Count me in, too," Iroha interjected.

"And me," Flower assured.

"Likewise," said Anon and Kanon - and they both turned to each other in surprise at their synchronicity.

Yukari sighed, rising to her feet. "Well, don't count on me to let you have all the killing blows," she warned.

A cacophony of ringtones emerged around the memorial; the mission had come in.

 _Mission: Hunt the pigs scattered around DIVA._  
_A new app has been installed to locate them._  
_You have 200 minutes._  
_Fail, and face erasure._  
_~The Reapers_

"Piiigs?" Yukari drew out the single syllable with distaste, the Game timers striking mid-word and failing to interrupt her.

"Not a fan of bacon?" Flower snarked.

"There is not a person in this  _world_ who is not a fan of  _something_ about bacon," Yukari reprimanded. "I know a vegetarian who enjoys the  _fact that people like it_. But pig  _Noise_ are something else entirely."

"What's wrong with pig Noises?" Yuki asked.

"Lots is wrong with pig Noises," Yukari insisted. "Point A, they don't fight you; they try to get away from you."

"Sounds like the opposite of Day 1," Anon observed.

Yukari pocketed her phone. "Point B, every pig is different. Half of them are puzzles. It's hard to take them out before they get too far."

"Figure them out fast, act on it quick," Kanon summed up.

The hoodie girl turned to face everyone else. "Point C, they're  _annoying_. You open up a scan, and they  _oink at you_. I think you could hear them from clear across the plaza outside that 39 Building if they happened to be on the other end. And it's right up in your ear, there's no hint as to how close they are."

Merli crossed her arms. "So, you have a grudge against Pig Noise?"

"I take it back," Yukari insisted. "Joining forces sounds like the best idea ever."

Yuki giggled lightly; then she realized that sound had come from her, and her hand went up to her mouth.

* * *

If anybody had any doubts that the Game was invisible and intangible to civilians, they were gone as all eight of them dashed out from the Flower Fight Memorial; even with Iroha invisible and Yuki on Zunko's shoulders for mobility, the Players were a charging convoy that was not to be trifled with.

The new app the message had mentioned,  _Swine Finder_ , functioned like a radar; as they emerged on Two Kind Walk, it pinged, and Yukari - who had the app open at the lead of the charge - called out, "There's one here!"

"I see it!" Flower called as she touched her pin; she raised her hand as the civilians faded out, and a green sigil emerged in the air, from which emerged a golden pig with crimson lines on its ham.

"Salsa," Yukari identified. "It's on a countdown before it's a sigil again; keeping up with it won't keep it visible for longer!"

"We're on it!" Kanon proclaimed.

She and Flower began to attack it as the convoy charged towards Starmine Square; the civilians reappeared once they were out of range, and they were barely two steps in before the  _Swine Finder_ pinged again. "Here!"

"Got you!" Iroha's voice heralded the disappearance of the civilians as another pig sigil appeared; the Noise that emerged from this one was hot pink, with blue waves forming its tail.

"Cha-cha," Yukari warned. "Lot of fast hits will do more than one hard one!"

"Can do!" Anon assured.

Iroha's blades of wind prompted Yukari, Merli, Zunko, and Yuki to charge up Amaretto; they were passing by Fire Child Sports Park when Yukari saw a blip off the radar screen, indicating something to the side. "I think..." She dashed up to the edge of the boundary, and the radar pinged. "Somewhere here!"

"You!" Yuki grabbed it, prompting the recuperating skaters around here to vanish as a pig sigil appeared; from this one emerged one... two...  _three_ pale grey pigs with blue lines on their hinds.

"Jig," Yukari stated. "Only one's real; the rest are fakes!"

"Hold tight!" Zunko warned.

She vaulted the half-pipe, prompting Yuki to cling as she slid down the slope; Yukari and Merli tore off down Aqua Street. A glance in the direction of Tengaku Square revealed Kanon and Flower fighting another Cha-cha, with tactics that indicated they'd heard her instruction to Starmine (not surprising, given Yukari's volume at the moment); they quickly followed Snowdust Street, whereupon the  _Swine Finder_  directed Yukari into Swordsman's Square.

"Where?"

"There!" Merli drew out the next one; this pig was a dark purple, with blue shapes that might have been horns.

"Polka," Yukari snapped, closing her phone and pocketing it. "Gotta cross it out!"

"Let's do it!"

* * *

Cha-chas in Starmine, Tengaku, Cybernation, Rouge, and Ashes; Salsas in Two Kind Walk and Silent Beat Alleyway; Jigs at Fire Child and the Garden of the White Knight; and the Polka in Swordsman's Square. The eight Players rendezvoused on I_O Walk and found what seemed to be all their bases covered with  **30:18** to spare - which raised the question of why they _knew_ they were down to  **30:17**.

"Where haven't we been?" Yukari demanded.

"We checked Pain Crave," Zunko proclaimed, "but the radar didn't go off."

"Nothing in the concert venue but a band setting up," Flower claimed.

"None of the roads are dinging," Iroha's voice warned.

Merli threw her head back. "Tell me it's not the roof on 39 again..."

The convoy charged into the plaza, and Yukari's  _Swine Finder_ pinged. "Here," she groaned. "The height of that thing, it won't be reacting to something on the rooftop. It's somewhere in the plaza here. Where?"

"I see it!" Zunko proclaimed; the civilians faded out as the sigil appeared before them, and from it emerged a bright violet Noise with golden horns and thunderbolts on its legs. And this one had a drastically different disposition compared to the pigs so far; at the sight of the Player convoy, it  _squealed_ with an angry cry, scraping one foot against the ground.

"Oh, erase me, that's a Butoh!"

"What does that mean?"

"It means  _run!_ "

The pig charged forward, horns braced forward; everyone broke ranks, and the pig elected to target the one who had found it - Zunko. Yuki quickly raised a barrier between her and the Noise, into which it collided hard enough reel back; Zunko quickly drew her bow, firing at it in to land a cross combo. Iroha's wind blades slammed into the Butoh from the side, causing it to turn and charge their source; before it could get near enough, Anon slammed a flaming two-fisted punch down on its side for another flash, causing it to squeal. Kanon hurled a sphere of voltage at it while it was still recoiling, and Flower proceeded to charge across its hindquarters for one more gleam.

Merli made to raise her ice spike as it tried to follow after her with another charge; it skimmed its hind leg, and the pig proceeded to arc towards her horns-first.

She couldn't get out of the way before the pig slammed into her - hard enough to send her flying, what's more. Half a scream broke out of her as she was thrown back, the wind knocked out of her even before she hit the ground; when the pig made to follow through, Yukari hurled one of her bombs between her and it. An arrow to its horn caused it to skid to a stop, and when it tried to turn it bashed into a barrier with a flash; a few more wind-blades slashed its snout, and Flower charged over its back before it could retaliate.

She dropped to her knees and grabbed Merli, rolling both of them out of range as Yukari's bomb went off.

When the smoke cleared, the pig was already fading out; the civilians faded back in as Merli tried to get to her feet. "Ow...." She turned to Yukari, aiming a finger at her around her can. "You said pigs didn't-"

Everyone double-took at the sight of the nondescript blue can sitting in her hand.

"...Where did this soda come from?"

Yukari popped her lips. "That's a Cure Drink," she explained. "It helps patch your wounds. I guess that's what your second pin does."

With a shake of her head, Merli cracked the can. "What happened to 'they don't fight you, they try to get away from you'?"

"There's an exception to prove every rule," Yukari argued.

**Colorful Pastel  
** **Chapter Closed**


	8. 1 Day to Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> Today's mission is going to look very similar to a mission in Reaping, courtesy of TWEWY having a late-game boss fight that was very similar to an early-game boss fight.

"What do you mean it won't work?"

Miku's question earned her a defensive raise of hands from the technician. "I don't know!" he insisted. "I've checked everything - the breakers are fine, the connections are all intact, the switch isn't busted, and the bulbs are all working. But when I try to turn them on, they won't give off any light. You can't even see your own shadow in there."

"But that doesn't-"

The vocalist cut herself off, earning her a look from the technician. "What's wrong?"

"It's... nothing," Miku insisted. She could have sworn she'd seen a glimpse of black around a nearby curtain. "Okay, you said it's just the mosh lights?"

"Yeah," the tech insisted. "Everything else is fine, it's just the pit that's dark."

 _That sounds familiar,_ Miku groaned internally. "Okay, that's not gonna affect the concert. Why don't you call it a day, and we can have another look at this tomorrow morning before the show. Worst case scenario, we can always jury-rig the stage lights so they'll shine at the pit and let the crowd see where they're going."

With a sigh, the tech started off. "Yeah, I guess we're not gonna make much progress here..."

Miku waited a long moment to make sure he was out of earshot; then she stormed the curtain, dragging it out of the way with a yell of " _Gumi!_ "

The Game Master's wings vanished. "Well, where else am I gonna put a Canor?"

* * *

When Merli woke again, she was lying on the far end of Pain Crave Bridge. A comment of "Looks like we're on our own today" drew her attention to the side, revealing Yukari standing there looking disinterestedly at the building; there was indeed no sign of the other Players around them.

Merli got to her feet. "Well, we all get the same missions regardless of where we are," she argued. "If we hit the destination at the same time, we might end working together again."

"Don't count on it," Yukari reprimanded. "Putting us all in the same place yesterday was a bid to stop us from covering the whole district in time. If we had fought _every_ pig together, we would never had finished that Butoh before we got erased." She shook her head. "So if we're scattered like this, that means it's an effort to keep us from working together."

"Well, aren't you just a bundle of sunshine," Merli snarked.

Yukari shook her head. "The Reaper's Game isn't benevolent," she insisted. "Doing everything in their power to see as many Players erased as possible is the job of everyone with a pair."

"Um..."

"Of wings!" Yukari insisted, her face turning red. "A pair of wings. Reaper wings."

Merli's ringtone spared her partner any further embarrassment; she drew out her phone and checked the message.

 _Mission: Illuminate the venue of Silent Beat._  
_You have 60 minutes._  
_Fail, and face erasure._  
_~The Reapers_

* * *

"Wall clear."

Flower and Kanon had woken up in Cybernation Plaza; a Reaper by the name of Matcha had given them a quick task involving fighting a few Noise floating about, and now took down the wall and stepped aside for them to pass through.

There was a large poster hanging outside the concert venue; Flower glanced in its direction and was floored. "Oh, no way."

"What is it?" Kanon asked.

"Glory Music," Flower insisted, approaching the poster. "They're performing here." Her face fell. "Oh, shit, that's tomorrow. It's only Day 5."

Kanon glanced at the poster - it was hand-drawn artwork rather than photography, but the image was of impressive quality. It showed a girl with teal hair in twintails, dressed in an outfit of bright white; it looked of a somewhat militant design, but had a rather short skirt and sleeves with ratios like national flags. Kanon _hoped_ that her dynamic pose on the poster was strictly for promotional purposes and wouldn't actually feature at the concert. Atop her head was an officer's cap with a pink flower upon it - five pairs of conjoined petals, forming a star of sorts - and upon her feet were a pair of two-pronged platform shoes; she was brandishing a massive flag like a weapon, white emblazoned with a crimson 桜 in the center.

Down the side of the poster were six silhouetted shapes. The five-pointed flower from the girl's hat in pink, canted; a butterfly in brown, its antennae curled into a heart and diamonds upon its wings; a folding fan in black, spread wide with two lines across its surface; a seven-pointed maple leaf in blue, its veins hollow; a snowflake in aqua, segmented neatly into six; and a flower in red and green, with three shapes arranged in trigram to close the circle. At the top of the poster was the band name, Glory 3usi9, with the letters in rainbow colours; to the side was the locale and time - Silent Beat, tomorrow at 21:00; and across the bottom was what Kanon assumed to be the concert name,  _The Reappearance of Hatsune Miku._

"Hatsune Miku?" Kanon wondered.

"That's her," Flower explained, referring to the girl on the poster. "She went missing and someone found a suicide note from her on the roof of 39 a few months ago, but it turned out to be some jackass' idea of a joke. Her blog said she was having a flu from hell. Can you imagine being so sick you can't see what's on a computer screen?"

"Standing up, anyways," argued Iroha's voice from nearby; Flower and Kanon turned to find Anon approaching from the other end of the alleyway. "Plus digital displays tend to worsen a headache." Then, after a moment; "Ugh, just our luck. She goes out of her way to undo her 'disappearance' and we're _dead_."

"Right?" Flower agreed.

Anon coughed pointedly. "How about we get the mission done?" she suggested.

"Good idea," Kanon agreed.

The four of them made their way into the venue; the mosh pit was pitch-black, and there were no indicators anything else was lit either. "So," Anon asked, "how do we 'illuminate' this place?"

"If I were to guess," Iroha mused, "the light switches are gonna be backstage." Then; "Can anybody see my phone light, at least?"

"Nope," Kanon apologized.

Everyone else drew out their own phones, illuminating their immediate surroundings; in short order, they were able to make their way backstage. A series of quick steps in the dark indicated Iroha had dashed ahead; the backstage lights quickly lit up, causing everyone to wince, and as they were turning their phones off several more switches were flipped.

"That's everything set to 'on'," Iroha mused. "Are we clear?"

Flower glanced at her timer hand; they were still counting on  **54:56**. "Nope," she mused. Stepping towards the main stage, "I guess 'illuminate' was meant a little more..."

She fell quiet; the mosh pit was still dark.

"...metaphorically."

The curtain beside her was tossed aside; as it was starting to waver back, Anon and Kanon joined her outside. "Still dark?" Anon wondered. "Is it a technical fault?"

"The concert's tomorrow," Kanon argued. "If there were technical faults, they would be repairing it right now."

Iroha giggled, earning her general direction everyone's glares. " _Ya, ya, ya, ya, iya, iya, iya,_ " she sang.

"Oh, shut up," Flower reprimanded, although there was a smile on her face.

Anon and Kanon exchanged confused glances.

Flower glanced towards the stage lights; she could see walkways hanging between them, extending to roughly backstage where several more lights could be seen. "If we head up there," she mused, "we might be able to find out what's causing the blackout."

* * *

Climbing up to the upper level changed everyone's preconceived notions about the cause - the stage lights were designed to swivel, not only able to be aimed across the stage but swung down towards the mosh pit as well.

"The mosh lights wouldn't even be necessary, if they wouldn't work in time," Kanon observed. "Stagehands could just swing these down, and the people would be able to see where they're going just fine."

Again did Iroha giggle; this was accompanied by a clatter against the handrail of the upper level, followed by a slight shake and a slamming collision on the opposite walkway. " _Kekkyoku mina-sama taningoto?_ " she tuned.

Flower grinned. " _Kekkyoku minasama taningoto,_ " she echoed.

Anon glanced between them. "What?"

" _Kekkyoku mina-sama taningoto?_ "

" _Kekkyoku minasama taningoto._ "

Kanon shook her head. "What are you two talking about?"

" _Kekkyoku mina-sama taningoto?_ "

" _Kekkyoku minasama taningot-_ "

Flower cut herself off at the third echo, her stance widening all of a sudden; Anon and Kanon realized what she was reacting to. "Did you feel that?"

"Noise," Iroha confirmed. "Where?"

A flurry of screeches had everyone stepping back; a flock of bat Noise had been hanging on the underside of the walkways, where the lights were positioned, and now were screeching about, flying in a tight-formation flock that blot out the shine.

"So that's why they don't light!" Anon realized.

Kanon formed a ball of lightning as Iroha's wind-blades lashed across their walkway; then she hurled it at the underside of Iroha's, taking out a few bats in the process. Anon tried to kick at the walkway; the good news was that it  _did_  cause some flames to gather around her feet, but the bad news was that it didn't burn wide enough to strike the bats; Flower broke into her red-and-blue streak dash, only to meet the same problem. 

Iroha's wind was more effective at crowd-clearing; the last of the bats vanished from the others' walkway, and the lights abruptly shone down at full intensity - revealing something  _huge_ flapping below - a giant golden bat with blue waves for wings, flying back and forth around the mosh pit.

"Woah!" Flower glared. "I think we found what they came from!"

A few blades were aimed down at the giant one, only to falter before they could strike. "I can't hit that from here!"

"Well,  _we_ can't hit  _those ones_ from  _here_ ," Anon pointed out.

"Don't you dare try to jump right down!" Kanon snapped.

" _Tanin to fukou wa shiranpuri!_ " Flower reprimanded.

Before either of them could stop her, she ducked under the handrail, positioning herself just outside its boundary and then propelling herself downward. Her intended goal was achieved; she surged earthward wrapped in red and blue, and as she slammed into the giant bat she ricocheted off, leaving her rolling.

With a groan, Anon vaulted the railing after her, dropping with a diving kick that landed as the bat made to swing its wing at Flower. Flames wrapped her foot as she neared, colliding fiercely with the Noise; her landing was somewhat less eloquent than Flower's, but being splayed across the ground meant a horizontal sweep of a massive limb doesn't collide without dragging along the ground - which the bat's didn't.

Kanon turned her attention back to taking out the bats around Iroha's walkway; as the last of them vanished, the illumination doubled, and the bat seemed to recoil. Flower and Anon used the opportunity to strike it repeatedly without retaliation, and Kanon grabbed the railing with intention to jump after them.

"Don't!" Iroha warned. "If that thing can-"

Her warning was fell-founded; after a moment, the bat managed to recover, and as the two Players below moved aside, it folded its wings before itself; then it lashed them out, and a swarm of bats surged up from between them, dividing to obscure the lighting again. Flower's barrier wrapped her as she charged where she was certain the bat had been, only to be unpleasantly surprised when her course was forcibly diverted - as opposed to forcing the Noise aside.

"I don't think that thing can feel it in the darkness!" she warned.

Iroha and Kanon resumed their assault on the swarms; Flower tried to keep her attention on the bat, but the most she got was noticing the blip in the light when it passed her view of the illuminated stage. After a moment, sparks began to fly - and when they collided with Flower, they  _burned_ , leaving her screaming and stumbling away.

One set of lights was cleared; Anon charged the Noise, landing a blazing hook and a quick-lit jab before driving a hard uppercut into the underside of its head. The Noise flapped away before turning round and swinging its wings down; a massive four-pronged shape manifested between its wings and flew forward, and Anon barely managed to sidestep it before making to charge the Noise again.

She landed one hard blow, and then it  _struck her from behind_ , throwing her to the ground.

"Anon!" The last light set was cleared; Kanon swore under her breath and vaulted the railing, heedless of Iroha's "What are you-!?" as she made to defend her mirror. Mid-fall, Kanon hurled a sphere of lightning to strike the stunned Noise; she landed with a rough roll, and Anon managed to right herself with a spinning blaze kick, following through with a few weak jabs wrapped in fire; as she stepped away, Kanon hurled another blast at it to keep the heat up.

The Noise started to right itself.

Flower forced herself to do the same; and before it could invoke another swarm, she pushed forward, slamming into the Noise hard enough to cause it to fade. She yelled in pain as her adrenaline wore off; her legs refused to support her, and she tumbled to the ground again, her legs still hurting.

"That was stupid and reckless!" Iroha reprimanded from above.

"I'm just glad it worked before anyone got erased!" Kanon defended.

A screech stopped anyone from responding. "We're not done!?" Anon cried. "Where-?! _Look out!_ "

Flower glanced around, and was terrified to see a tiny golden bat charging at her, raising an arm before herself in desperate defense.

The bat halted a few moments away from that arm - on a nearly transparent barrier that gleamed in the air.

Anon and Kanon turned towards the entrance; Yuki and Zunko were standing there. Yuki had one hand held towards the bat, and as it pulled back Zunko raised her bow, loosing an arrow that crossed the mosh pit and slammed into the Noise.

It barely lasted long enough to flash before it faded out.

A stuttered sigh emerged from Flower as she slumped over on the floor of the pit. "I don't want to think about how close that was."

Zunko glanced at her hand. "That's the mission clear," she called.

"Thank god," Iroha called down. "Nobody run off without me, I'm not jumping from up here."

* * *

"Timer's gone. Looks like they decided not to wait for us."

Merli shook her head at Yukari's comment. "We started at the boundary of Diola city limits," she defended, "and we can't go down I_O Walk. If they waited for us, we'd run out of time and we'd all get erased."

"And you don't think that maybe they'd rather see themselves back to life than you?" Yukari asked.

"A willingness to help someone else and an interest in preventing oneself from dying - or erasing, I guess, in this situation - are  _not_ mutually exclusive," Merli proclaimed.

Yukari shook her head. "You sound so convinced that they're going to throw themselves on the fire for you," she reprimanded.

With a groan, Merli shook her head. "They said they were willing to help me survive this Game," she insisted. "They didn't say they were going to make sure I was the one who came back to life. Nobody would be  _able_ to help me after the way today has been going, and I'm not going to call anyone a liar without proof that they haven't upheld their word."

"I'm interested in seeing whether anyone does," Yukari observed.

* * *

"No erases yet? Shame on you, Gumi."

Neru's taunt had the Game Master groaning, throwing her head back. "I'm not in the mood," she insisted. "Hatsune was telling me off this morning for the mission."

"Can you blame her?" Neru asked, stepping forward to join her on the edge of 39. "The day before the show, and you put a Canor in the venue? Anybody would be mad at you, even without having survived that."

"Yes, yes, I get it," Gumi insisted. "Can I please live that down?"

"Never." Neru shook her head. "Still, though," she mused. "Ever since you usurped Cyber Diva, I've never seen a Game go this far without a casualty."

"I never saw a Game go without a casualty  _since I went through **my** first_ ," Gumi agreed. "If everybody survives to Day 7, the Game Master's always gone on a one-Reaper Player Hunt." She sighed. "You know, I think I'm gonna take Hatsune up on that offer."

"What offer?" Neru asked.

"Letting the Players go to the concert," Gumi elaborated. "I mean, the more I think about it, the more she's absolutely right. A show hosted by a band of ex-Players, with all of DIVA's Reapers in attendance, and invites having gone out to all the Players in the current Game? If the outsider does want to take retribution for Utau City, that's twenty-five targets. She can't pass it up."

Neru nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she confirmed.

Quiet for a moment.

"Your math's a bit off, though."

Gumi turned to her. "Huh?"

The Conductor turned to her. "No Kokone, remember? I mean, it _is_ going to her charity, I don't blame you, but there's only eleven Reapers."

The Game Master nodded. "Yeah, plus Glory Music's six, and the eight Players."

" _Eight!?_ "

**Signal  
** **Chapter Closed**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Translation notes-  
> "Close and Open: Demons and the Dead" appeared in Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd and received an approved English translation of its lyrics. Relevant passages are provided below.
> 
> "Ya ya ya ya iya iya iya" → "Ya ya ya ya no no no"  
> "Kekkyoku mina-sama taningoto?" → "No one else cares"  
> "Tanin to fukou wa shiranpuri!" → "Turn a blind eye to others' misfortune!"


	9. Concert Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> And now for the payoff. Please do comment, I want to know your reactions~

"This is a lot later than usual..."

Merli was roused by Yukari's comment and found it astonishingly sound. They were lying in the plaza outside 39, and the skies were dark; every day before, the sun had been visible above DIVA District. As she got to her feet, she found the rest of the Players gathered around her again - and no sooner had she taken such notice than a cacophony of ringtones echoed around the plaza, the mission having arrived.

_No mission today. There's a concert going on at the venue you illuminated yesterday. Feel free to enjoy the show. ;P_

"What!?" Yukari exclaimed.

"Sweet!" Iroha cheered. "And here I thought we were gonna miss Glory Music!"

"Oh, no way am I missing the Reappearance," Flower proclaimed.

"If people can't see the Game," Yuki observed, "does that mean we don't have to pay for tickets?"

"You know something," Zunko admitted, "I think it does."

"Might as well see what the cheer is about," Anon suggested.

"If we get deja vu, it could be a good sign," Kanon agreed.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Yukari protested. "Think about this! The Game's limited to seven days, and they've been making every effort to get us erased so far. Now, all of a sudden, they give us a  _day off?_ Are you seriously buying this?"

A pause... and then seven voices confirmed, "Yes."

Merli pocketed her phone. "Glory Music, making plans in retribution of a sick joke suicide note?" she asked. "They're going to be putting on a massive explosion of a concert. And we get free tickets. Don't tell me you're going to pass this up."

Yukari opened her mouth to protest... and then found herself stuttering awkwardly as she tried to formulate a retaliation. "B-But still," she insisted, "we can't just walk in with our guards down!"

Her phone went off again, causing her to glance down at the device.

_All the Reapers are gonna be there._

As Yukari stared at the screen, Yuki stepped forward. "We're all going," she insisted. "You don't have to come with."

"...Okay, fine," Yukari insisted. "Let's go."

* * *

As was to be expected, Silent Beat Alleyway was a mess. Merli wanted to thank whoever was responsible for making the Reaper's Game not only invisible but largely intangible to the civilian community; getting through the crowd without losing track of everyone else was a nightmare as it was.

They were making to follow the horde in when a voice called, "Over here!" Everyone turned to find a figure in white with purple hair of such _lusciousness_ that Merli started feeling inadequate; a pair of small black Reaper wings emerged from his back, and he was standing atop what seemed to be a fire exit for the upper level, the ladder for which had been lowered. The Players quickly dashed up to it, ascending in single-file and following him into the venue.

"I think that makes everyone in the Underground," the Reaper mused. "Kamui Gakupo, pleasure to meet you."

"I'll trust you not to take offense when none of us say 'likewise'," Merli admitted.

"Entirely understandable," Gakupo conceded. "Come on, we've found the best vantage point up here."

The Players followed him across the upper levels; the walkways between the stage lights extended clear over the mosh pit and to further walkways around the ridge of the venue, and it was 45 degrees to stage left that the Reapers were assembled. One of them noticed as they were approaching - a girl dressed in yellow and orange, with green hair and a pair of silver goggles resting over her eyes; she quickly lifted her goggles as they neared, revealing a smile in her eyes.

"Welcome, Players!" she greeted, speaking at volume so she could be heard over the chattering crowd below. "Naka Gumi, Game Master."

Yukari stepped forward. "So you're the one sending missions," she deduced. "You threw away one of your seven chances to erase us and let us come see a Glory Music show?"

Gumi laughed. "Well, if I give my Harriers jobs for the day, that's gonna  _stop them_ from coming to see the Glory Music show," she insisted.

"This is true," Yukari conceded.

"There was a little one in the Players, right?" Gumi asked.

Yuki stepped forward. "Yes?"

Gumi knelt down to her level, holding out a pair of earmuffs that had been in one hand. "Not sure if you've been to a concert before," she told her, "but they can get really loud. Might want to put these on if it's your first time." Yuki accepted them and quickly slipped them on; as Gumi rose, she asked, "Anybody else want?"

"We're good," the rest of the Players chorused.

Merli glanced around the venue. "Hey, these walkways go all the way around, right?"

"I think so," Gakupo confirmed, "why?"

"If it's all the same to you," Merli admitted, "those wings look  _really_ uncomfortable, and I have a bad habit of moving around too much when I listen to music, so I'm gonna grab the vantage point from the other angle."

"That sounds like a good idea, actually," Gakupo conceded.

Merli started off the walkway; Yukari glanced at her and turned to the Reapers. "This all of you up here?"

"The whole Reaper Collective came to see the show," Gumi confirmed. "The higher-ups were too busy, but hey, chains of commanding."

Yukari proceeded to chase Merli to the other end; after a moment, the other Players proceeded to follow suit, and Gumi turned back to watching the crowd.

* * *

"That's Gumi. Everyone's here."

Miku's comment earned her grins from the rest of the group. The Silent Beat venue was often used for theatre as well as music, and so had curtains that would be drawn across the stage; Glory Music had long learned that the techniques of dramatic performances got a concert crowd's mood all the same. Everyone had done their pre-show checks; their headsets were synched to the sound system as were their instruments, and though slightly uncomfortable when paired with the headwear of everyone's outfits, it was nothing compared to some of the other shows they'd put on (Len would still refuse to wear anything in spandex to this day).

Luka nodded in response to Miku's proclamation. "And you told Haku about the aftershow plan?"

"I sent her the message, Miku confirmed, turning her phone off and sliding it offstage. "She hasn't gotten back, but at this point I don't think we'd have time to change if she objected."

"You've got a point," Luka conceded.

Miku glanced at her armpiece; the time currently read  _20:59,_ and she reached for her headset. "Now, showtime."

Everybody lowered their mouthpieces, and Miku turned to face the curtain, tapping at her arm and then signalling to the stage crew for the curtains.

* * *

The Players found Merli at almost exactly the opposite view to Gumi's; as they neared, Flower asked, "Do you actually move around that much, or was that just an excuse to ditch the Reapers?"

"Oh, no, I was serious," Merli insisted. "Like, give me the wingspan of an albatross."

The lights started to dim across the concert venue, causing the crowd to quiet slightly - though not entirely, for only orchestra or theatre would earn that respect. After a moment, there were audible the withdrawl of curtains upon the stage, and then the instrumentals that everyone in the crowd recognized as the intro of Unhappy Refrain \- with the slight deviation that results from the limits of a live band having to pick and choose their instruments, rather than a recording studio's totally free range.

With an abrupt flash, all three stage lights were ignited; the crowd cheered as Glory Music became visible, everyone's eyes closed and playing flawlessly nonetheless; Hatsune Miku uncrossed her arms, raised her hands to her sides, and opened her mouth.

" _Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-a-a-a-a-a-aaaaa!_ "

It was hard to believe, but the elaborate outfit Miku had been wearing in the poster was there, on the stage,  _on her body_ \- impractical sleeves, two-pronged platform shoes, and all. The colours had plainly been chosen for the poster, however; Miku's current outfit was a dark brown, with three silhouettes of the five-point flower emblazoned on the front side of one sleeve and the back side of the other. Upon her right arm, fastened over the sleeve but failing to contrast therewith, was a small display and input system - for Miku, not playing an instrument, was responsible for planning the visuals of their videos, and in concert she was tasked with lighting the stage appropriately for each song. The rest of Glory Music was dressed with similarly-proportioned sleeves and shoes, and none of their performances were hindered thereby.

Kagamine Len was drumming up a storm, and Honki Kaito was working a keyboard, both in military uniforms of the same fashion as Miku's; Len's was slate-grey, with dark imprints on his sleeves of the folding fan from the posters, while Kaito's was deep blue with light patterns like the snowflake. Kagamine Rin was somehow shredding a guitar with frilly hems, a child's bonnet, and an eyepatch with a starburst; her sleeves were patterned with the butterfly, along with a slightly altered and less symmetrical one lower down. Sakine Meiko was rocking her bass in an elaborate courtesan's outfit, complete with elaborate makeup; her sleeves had a gradient from light to dark, with the trigram bloom imprinted lower down. Megurine Luka was working her violin in what appeared to be a maid's outfit; upon her sleeves were maple leaves like the poster, and holstered upon her skirt were two spare bows.

No band will go their performance without addressing the crowd, and Miku was known for ever doing so as soon in the concert as the playlist would allow. As such, the instrumental lead-in after her opening cry continued longer than the recorded track would, and Miku stepped up to the edge of the stage, calling out; "Hello, DIVA!"

The crowd seemed to go insane; Yuki reached for her earmuffs, now eternally grateful for the Game Master's choice to provide them for her.

"Can you hear me, Underground?"

The audience cheered an affirmative.

"Can you hear me, Realground!"

Yukari thrust forward, slamming her hands against the walkway's guardrails. "Did she just-!?"

"This one goes to the Players - to make sure you don't hate the Game!"

Miku tapped at her armpiece, and lights lit up the backdrop behind Glory Music - a stark white skull, patterned like the decal on the doors of 39.

" _Sandanjuu to telecaster kotoba no seiretsu, unhappy_  
_Tanshin tokai no machi nami uchi konda oto, kirai desu ka?_  
_Koe ga tsubureru made utatte_  
_Nando no jikan o bou ni futta_  
_Yattono koto te ni ireta anta tebanasu wake ni ikanai desho_ "

Merli could barely believe her ears. "Holy shit," she exclaimed, retroactively hoping Yuki couldn't hear her. "Hatsune Miku knows the Reaper's Game!"

Flower whimpered. "I just got turned on a little."

" _'One-man live daiseikou!' atama no naka wa shoujo manga_  
_Zandan sude ni naku natta koko de ichido hiki kaesou ka_  
_Sotto oita chou ii tsugou o_  
_Nando mo hiroi age te tanda_  
_Mittomo nai kurashi ni mō bye-bye soro soro mukae ga kuru no desho?_ "

Yukari stepped back. "I don't believe it. She mentioned the Reaper's Game. She _addressed the Players_. How is this...?"

"Disappearance," Iroha murmured from the side. "Her disappearance, with that forged suicide note. Did she get killed and end up in the Reaper's Game?"

" _M_ _achigai sagashi bakari fura fura_  
_Furi kaeri kata, oshie te choudai yo_  
_Tari nai mono wa mou nai mō nai_  
_Soukai? Soukai, soukai_ "

A smile broke out on Merli's face. "That means she survived the Game. That means they  **do** let you back!"

" _Iu nara sore wa, sore wa lucky_  
_Kuri kaeshi no sanjuu kyuu byou meguri megutte itada_  
_Mieta, sore wa happy?_  
_Nattoku nante suru hazu nai wa!_  
_Don dake oto o kasane tatte_  
_Owari mo hajimari mo yatte wa konai na_  
_Tsumari tsumari imi wa nai no_  
_Douyara anta mo wakaccha inai na?_

 _Gamen no mukou ochite itta_  
_Sakasama no gaaru, otona no sekai._ "

Yuki grasped the hem of Merli's top, drawing her attention; she knelt down as the little one spoke to her over the bridge. "If Miku knows about the Game, she had to lose something. And if she lost it for good, then she wouldn't be singing with a smile like that! That means that what they take isn't gone for good!"

Merli nodded, small tears rising in her eyes. "Yeah," she yelled back. "It does!"

_Lapis, I'm gonna get you back. I promise._

* * *

The concert was designed to please; the first few tracks were some of Glory Music's most famous songs to Diola. Unhappy Refrain, Two-Sided Lovers, Electric Angel, Romeo and Cinderella, and Close and Open, Demons and the Dead - the latter of which had Anon and Kanon doubling over laughing on recognizing the lyrics that Flower and Iroha had quoted yesterday. Merli's realization as to the deeper secrets of the Game had prevented her worries from seeping into the concert, and everyone was convinced that her grooving to the music was something to keep away from.

On the other side of the venue, Gumi was watching the concert attentively, recognizing all of the songs so far - and knowing who had written each of them. Honki, Sakine, the Kagamine twins, and Megurine, in that order and then  _all_ of them. "Come on, Hatsune," she muttered under her breath, hoping her fellow Reapers wouldn't hear her. "We both know you're holding this concert to make me shut up. You didn't just write one and save it for the last track, did you?"

Sure enough, as the last few notes of Demons and the Dead faded out, Miku spoke to the crowd. "We all know how to bring back the old classics," she called, "but let's be totally honest - you're not here for the old ones, are right?"

A few notes of laughter rippled across the crowd.

"That's what I thought!" She tapped at her armpiece. "You don't just disappear without getting some new ideas - and I've only gotten one of those ideas out where people can see it so far!"

Iroha whined from the side. "Aw, dammit, did I die right before she got a new video out?"

Merli shrugged. "I didn't see any new videos come out since the confession about her disappearance," she admitted. "And I'm pretty sure I only died, like a week before the Game."

"Then you just missed it," Yukari confirmed. "World's End Dancehall came out about thirteen days ago."

Len began to start a low-key percussive lead-in as the lights dimmed, such that the only thing clearly visible was the Reaper skull behind the backdrop. After a moment, Luka joined in with a gentle track, and a light ignited with Miku in the center, her hands folded before her. Rin began to add to the tune as she performed a few small steps, dancing to the gentle music.

" _Doushite minna ga shiawase na no?_  
_Kono sekai no koto kiki taitte, shiri taitte_  
_Mizube no kouen de minna ga mimi wo sumasete_  
_Wakuwaku suru ne nee, Undine?_ "

The illusion broke with one movement of Luka's bow; screeching her violin's gentle tune to a halt. Kaito began to strike, his keyboard set to a foul synthesis, and Meiko's bass took on an unsettling volume as the stage was illuminated with an unpleasant green light.

" _Hai haai!_  
_Saa saa, mina-san oshiete age maasu!_  
_Min'na ga ki ni natte iru koto gimon ni omotteru koto_  
_Zeenbu oshiete age maasu!"_

Flower scoffed in astonishment. "Wow, Miku does not half-ass a bait and switch, does she?"

"Not even a little bit," Zunko agreed.

" _Ee, mina-san ga koufuku na no wa... gimu nan desu._  
_Hiawase desu ka? Gimu desu yo? Hatashite masu ka?_  
_Wareware, koufuku anshin iinkai wa mina-sama no shiawase_  
_Wo negai soshite, sasae maasu_

 _Koufuku na no wa gimu nan desu_  
_Koufuku na no wa gimu nan desu_  
_Koufuku na no wa gimu nan desu_  
_Shiawase desu ka? Gimu desu yo?_

 _Koufuku na no wa gimu nan desu_  
_Koufuku na no wa gimu nan desu_  
_Koufuku na no wa gimu nan desu_  
_Shiawase desu ka? GIMU DESU YO!_ "

Gumi glanced across the venue at where the Players were. "Maybe I should have told Hatsune there was a little one when she suggested inviting the Players to the concert."

" _Desu kara, anshinshite gimu wo hatasu you ni!_  
_Mina-sama no shiawase ga wareware no shiawase._  
_Shiawase desu ka? gimu desu yo? Hatashite masu ka?_  
_Shiawase ja nai nara..._ "

Crimson kana began to project on the forehead of the skull behind the stage, each vanishing and then being replaced by another as soon as it was spoken.

" _Koushu_  
_Zanshu_  
_Juusatsu_  
_Kamayude_  
_Dekishi_  
_Denki_  
_Hiaburi_  
_Ikiume_  
_Yakusatsu_  
_Ishiuchi_  
_Nokogiri_  
_Haritsuke_  
_Suki nano o erande ne~_ "

A mortified Gumi lowered her goggles back over her eyes. "Yes, I definitely should have told Hatsune there was a little one when she suggested inviting the Players to the concert.

* * *

It didn't stop with This is the Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee, either. Freely Tomorrow was enjoyably positive, but ACUTE was a love triangle of the worst kind, and Hm? Ah, Yes was seductive enough that Flower stepped away from the other Players and was crouched in the corner suspiciously until the song ended. A few more of her friends' written tracks joined the playlist after that; ODDS&ENDS, DECORATOR, 2D Dream Fever, Secret Police, Weekender Girl, and Sweet Devil; then the others had their turns for solo vocals, with Meiko's Nostalogic and Kaito's Ashes to Ashes. The Kagamines each had the vocals for another new track, with Rin's Tokyo Teddy Bear and Len's Dream-Eating Monochrome Baku; then World's End Dancehall started up, and half of the crowd was pumping to the beat as Miku and Luka sang.

" _Patto furatto kiechaiso na_  
_Tsugi no shunkan o nokosou ka_  
_Sayonara ogenki de_  
_Owaru sekai ni iu -_ "

The two twirled away from one another as the instrumentals led out; as the crowd cheered to fade out, Miku stepped forward. "Oh, man," she called to the crowd, feigning tiredness. "Is it that late already?" Yuki was of a similar mind, giving a tired yawn, and Zunko knelt down to offer they retire as Miku continued. "Why don't we wrap this up - with one more new one I've been wanting to show you guys!"

Rin and Len took the provocation and started up the track - and abrupt, fast-paced, out-of-nowhere instrumental that had the crowd cheering; Yuki assured that she could stick around for one more song, and Miku began to  _dance_ upon the stage, as the rest of the instrumentals joined in; upon the Reaper skull on the backdrop appeared 千本桜 kana by kana, vanishing as a whole as she began to sing.

" _Daitan-futeki ni haikara kakumei_  
_Rairai-rakuraku hansen kokka_  
 _Hinomaru-jirushi no nirinsha korogashi_  
 _Akuryou-taisan_ " _  
_ "  _I C B M_ "

The letters appeared a moment before she and the rest of Glory Music spoke them, and only the first one went without the entire crowd joining in. Miku was stepping back, putting herself beside Len's drum set - from which he rose, still playing, as Rin made to join them.

" _Kanjousen o hashirinukete_  
_Touhon-seisou nan no sono_  
_Shounen shoujo sengoku-musou_  
_Ukiyo no manima ni_ "

She raised one hand like a finger gun, her other discreetly tapping at her armpiece; Rin raised her strumming hand from her guitar in the same way, and Len tossed one drumstick into the air to do the same, and lights shone from each of their fingertips. The three parted, and Len caught his drumstick  on the descent as the instrumentals resumed.

" _Senbonzakura yoru ni magire_  
_Kimi no koe mo todokanai yo_  
_Koko wa utage hagane no ori_  
_Sono dantoudai de mioroshite_

 _Sanzen sekai tokoyo no yami_  
_Nageku uta mo kikoenai yo_  
_Seiran no sora haruka kanata_  
_Sono kousenjuu de uchinuite!_ "

Miku was turned away from the crowd for most of that last line, but on the last syllable she turned around, aiming her finger gun forward, and her fingertip shone again, earning the crowd's screams. The instrumentals continued for a brief break; then the orchestration faded somewhat, and Meiko set her bass to the side.

" _Hyakusen-renma no mitame wa shoukou  
Ittari-kitari no oiran douchuu_ "

Meiko turned with a flourish as Miku sang - and to much cheer her courtesan's outfit was slung aside, revealing a militant outfit like Kaito and Len were wearing beneath it; she quickly reclaimed her bass as the song continued.

" _Aitsu mo koitsu mo minna de atsumare_  
_Seija no koushin_ " _  
_ " _wan tsu san shi_ "

Again did her words appear on the skull a moment before she spoke each; this time, none in the crowd failed to join in as Glory Music chorused the call. Luka twirled in Miku's direction, and Miku danced her way towards her friend as she continued to sing.

" _Zenjoumon o kugurinukete_  
_Anraku-joudo yakubarai_  
_Kitto saigo wa daidan’en_  
_Hakushu no aima ni_

 _Senbonzakura yoru ni magire_  
_Kimi no koe mo todokanai yo_  
_Koko wa utage hagane no ori_  
_Sono dantoudai de mioroshite_

 _Sanzen sekai tokoyo no yami_  
_Nageku uta mo kikoenai yo_  
_Kibou no oka haruka kanata_  
_Sono senkoudan o uchiagero!_ "

Luka briefly twirled her bow away from her violin, holstering it on her skirt (she had gone through her spares already) and raising her hand in a finger gun as Len and Rin had; Miku did the same, and again did light shine from their fingertips. Then all instrumentation faded, save for Kaito tapping at his keyboard with rapid movements for a few bars. As he flourished his way up an octave, the rest of Glory Music resumed their own instrumentations; the entire band was playing at full score as Miku danced upon the stage. Rin's guitar took dominance abruptly mid-break, and Miku tapped lightly  and when she resumed her vocals, she seemed to  _ascend into the air_.

" _Kanjousen o hashirinukete_  
_Touhon-seisou nan no sono_  
_Shounen shoujo sengoku-musou_  
_Ukiyo no manima ni_ "

All of Glory Music set their instruments down, and only a light tune echoed through the stage as they stepped forward; Miku began to dance in the air, suspended only on the thinnest of wires, invisible to the crowd.

" _Senbonzakura, yoru ni magire_  
_Kimi no koe mo todokanai yo_  
_Koko wa utage hagane no ori_  
_Sono dantoudai o tobiorite!_ "

With a flourish, Miku freed herself from her support; she hung in the air, just briefly, before gravity seized her and dragged her back to the ground. And as she landed upon the stage, the rest of the band began to dance, each in sync with her, and the instrumentation swelled as they all sang alongside her.

" _Senbonzakura yoru ni magire_  
_Kimi ga utai boku wa odoru_  
_Koko wa utage hagane no ori_  
_Saa kousenjuu o uchimakure!_ "

They all turned their finger guns on the crowd, shining beams flying from each's fingertips, and the crowd went  _insane_ , cheering without restraint as all of Glory Music danced to the same tune, finishing with a group pose as 千本桜 was emblazoned on the skull once again. After a moment of listening to the calls of joy, Miku stepped forward, and her friends bowed before she waved to the crowd. "Thank you, Realground! Thank you, Underground! We hope you enjoyed the show!"

She crossed her arms, tapping discreetly at her armpiece as she bowed as well, and the stage lights dimmed; the curtains were closed, and the rest of the venue was lit once the stage was unseen.

* * *

The rest of Glory Music elected to wait backstage; Miku however, evacuated the venue and lingered between the buildings on Silent Beat Alleyway. The wire-dancing was a new tactic for her, and she was determined to never do that again - being supported only by small points on one's limbs and working to not fall until you need to is much more tiring than dancing upon a solid surface. The outfits didn't help matters; their performance costumes weren't exactly designed to breathe, and Meiko had been dressed in layers, what's more. Miku - who had tried to suggest they put on a discreet intermission in the middle of the concert and been overruled by **all** of her friends - had tried to avoid dancing too much until  Senbonzakura, and she was still a good bit overheated; the cool night air was a pleasant sensation.

"So."

The voice from behind her snapped her out of relishing the night.

"Is the whole band ex-Players, or just you?"

Miku sighed. "Meiko thought the backdrop was in bad taste," she informed her confrontor. "Luka said 'Realground' isn't a word. Kaito didn't understand why I decided to ignore the fact that the mosh lights weren't working yesterday."

She turned around.

Standing there was a girl with hair of a pink hue so bright as to be nearly white. She was dressed in bright purple - stockings and a warm top - and wore a black hoodie over the ensemble, with what seemed to be rabbit's ears upon the hood.

Not wanting to be eyeing the Players all show, Miku had taken off her Player Pin - which meant this girl was in the Realground.

**Sing a Song  
Chapter to be Continued**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: songwriters mentioned are meant as Watsonian contributors to Glory Music's playlist. Doylist songwriters listed below.  
> -Unhappy Refrain, Two-Sided Lovers, Rolling Girl, World's End Dance Hall: wowaka  
> -Electric Angel: Yasuo-P  
> -Romeo and Cinderella: doriko  
> -Close and Open, Demons and the Dead: Hachi  
> -This is the Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee: Utuata-P, Tory Hitsuji  
> -Freely Tomorrow: Mitchie M  
> -ACUTE: Kurousa-P  
> -Hm? Ah, Yes: Chouchou-P  
> -ODDS&ENDS: ryo  
> -DECORATOR, Weekender Girl: kz  
> -2D Dream Fever: PolyphonicBranch4  
> -Secret Police: Buriru-P  
> -Sweet Devil: Hachiouji-P  
> -Senbonzakura: Kurousa-P
> 
> ...No, I am not going to pretend I know what any of these would sound like if the instrumentals were limited to guitar, drums, bass, violin, and keyboard. If I did, I would have a YouTube account full of remixes already. (You can thank Lindsey Stirling for the violin)
> 
> EDIT: "Chapter to be Continued" is meant to indicate that the next chapter is part of the same day in the Game, not that I will be elongating this chapter at a later date. Sorry if that was misunderstood.


	10. Backstage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> My choice of antagonist for Reaping was because I noticed two related songs with the title "The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku" and concocted a story based off of that. My choice of antagonist for Return... was just me picking a Vocaloid whose appearance appealed to me.
> 
> Also, I would like to suggest readers revisit the last few lines of Chapter 3 before reading this one.

"Thank you, Realground! Thank you, Underground! We hope you enjoyed the show!"

As Miku bowed, the stage went dark; the curtains were drawn out, and Merli approached the rest of the Players. "Never thought I'd feel _alive_  like this before the Game was over," she admitted. "I can't wait to tell Lapis about the show."

"Don't you worry," Flower assured her. "We'll make sure you can."

Yuki spoke up, trying to be heard over the bustle of the crowd; she had taken her earmuffs off after the curtains were closed. "If there was no mission today, does that mean we don't go to sleep afterwards?"

"We'll have to ask the Reapers about that," Zunko replied. "Let's go."

"Wait!" Iroha's voice insisted. "We're short one. Where's Yukari?"

The Players looked around; they couldn't see where she'd gone. "Yukari? Yukari!" Merli turned back down the stage past where she'd been dancing. "Where did she-?"

"There!" Anon spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "I just saw her head outside."

"We shouldn't be splitting up from our partners," Kanon mused. "Let's go after her!"

Merli, being Yukari's partner, dashed ahead of the group across the walkways; the Reapers didn't seem to be in any hurry, for she could still see them gathered on the other side of the venue. As she stepped out onto the fire escape, she saw Yukari rounding the corner of the venue and quickly scrambled down the ladder, dashing after her.

Hatsune Miku was standing here, in the crook between buildings; she seemed to be cooling off, for Merli could see beads of sweat trailing down the sides of her head. She had her back to the alleyway; Yukari was standing there, and Merli stepped forward. "Jeez, don't run off like-"

"So."

Yukari's voice was low, like she was angry and doing her damnedest not to show it. But that wasn't what interrupted Merli; Miku  _reacted_ , her head twitching to the side slightly in the way one does when idle and interrupted. She had  _heard_ Yukari - and that impossibility caught Merli flat-footed.

"Is the whole band ex-Players, or just you?"

Miku sighed. "Meiko thought the backdrop was in bad taste. Luka said 'Realground' isn't a word. Kaito didn't understand why I decided to ignore the fact that the mosh lights weren't working yesterday. But I managed to convince them all to let it happen."

She turned around to face Yukari. "Are you the Reaper from Utau City?"

Merli turned to her partner, shocked. "What? Yukari, you're-?"

Yukari smirked bitterly. "You knew about me."

"Not about you, specifically," Miku insisted, making to undo her outfit; her top was merely fastened together with a few clasp buttons, and pulling it off revealed that she had bound her bust with a sarashi beneath, over which lay suspenders hooking to the broad waistband of her skirt that covered her midriff. "But I knew that somebody had survived - and I knew she had come here. The Composer had to take emergency measures... like asking for help from Players who had returned to the RG."

She drew the top away from her right side - revealing the six pins on that strap.

"This whole concert was just a ploy to lure me out," Yukari growled.

Miku shook her head. "No, no," she insisted, folding her top over her arm and tossing it to the side. "We had this planned before she told me about you. I just knew that if the Players and the Reapers were invited, and you realized there was an ex-Player in the band, you couldn't pass up on it." She raised her gaze. "Now, what do you want with DIVA?"

Yukari sighed, raising a hand towards her head.

It was only halfway up before her arm moved, changing course to be drawn back for a punch.

"Go to hell."

As Yukari started to lunge her fist forward, Miku moved to the side; then Yukari seemed to  _vanish_ , reappearing several paces behind Miku. A  _crack_ echoed through the crook between the buildings; Miku threw her head back and  **screamed** , a tormented yell of pain as her left arm went limp at her side, swelling between her elbow and wrist and bending in a way a human arm should  _not_ bend.

Yukari turned around, grinning bitterly. "Shit," she praised. "Humans can't process movement that fast. Never expected you to get that far out of the way." She stormed forward. "Want to try again?"

"When did they go!?"

Miku's yell halted her pace. "What?"

"Your wings," Miku forced out, turning to face her. "If you're in the domain of an Underground, and the Game is on, your lifespan as a Reaper is counting down. And if you tricked the Players into thinking you were one of them, then your wings had disappeared - which means you were down to six days left!"

"Don't be dense," Yukari snapped. "I'm the last surviving Reaper from Utau City. And that makes me Composer!"

"But there  _isn't an Utau City_ anymore!" Miku yelled back. "That's the whole reason you came to DIVA, isn't it? Everything was washed away. Civilians, Players, Reapers, Realground,  _and Underground!_ You don't have a UG to rule over as Composer anymore! So you're still on the clock, just like any other Reaper!"

Yukari swung her arm through the air, and a  _slash_ ripped across Miku's torso, tearing another scream out of her; she fell to her knees, bleeding, as Yukari yelled at her. "Then what's this, huh!? A Reaper's wings hold their power! If I'm just some wingless bitch, I shouldn't even be _able_ to be here, in the RG! And if I was just like any other Reaper, I would just be a normal human in the RG - and I couldn't hurt you!"

Miku held her arm against the cut, trying to stem the bleeding. "That's all that's left of your throne," she insisted. "That last bit of resonance that gives you a little psych at this frequency. But that doesn't change the fact that you're on the clock! The Composer doesn't just  _ascend_ as soon as they get the seat! Even if you were still Composer true, you would have Reaper's wings in the Underground! When did you first trick the Players? Did you trick them on the first day?"

Merli raised her gaze, remembering when she had seen Yukari in the plaza; and after just a moment, she yelled, "You did!"

"I what?" Yukari lifted her gaze from Miku, looking at her partner.

"I saw you in 39!" Merli yelled. "I tried to make a pact with you! You didn't have wings then!"

"What? But..." Yukari stepped forward. "No..."

A weak laugh emerged from Miku, and she tried to push herself to her feet. "If your wings were gone on Day 1, you had six days left to score. And when a Reaper makes a pact with a Player, they're added to the Player list. And that means pass-outs and game timers. It's Day 6 of the Game. When the Reapers knock you out for the day, you're erased, as soon as you wake up tomorrow! _If that!_ "

"Shut up," Yukari gasped.

"What did you even want from DIVA?" Miku demanded. "You dragged yourself from the coast, all the way to Diola, for what? What were you trying to achieve!?"

" _Shut up!_ "

Yukari stormed forward, lashing her foot at Miku's intact arm - and Miku screamed a third time as she was thrown back. "You died!" the Reaper yelled. "You survived the Reaper's Game, and they chose you to come back! You don't get to talk to the Composer like that! Let alone the Composer who inducted an entire city, only to see them all get _slaughtered!_ "

"Miku!"

Luka's voice from inside had Yukari swearing as her gaze shot up; something shifted about her as the door to backstage swung open. Merli took a defensive stance, and Yukari shook her head. "Don't even try this, Merli."

"Try what?" Merli demanded.

"I can see it in your eyes," Yukari reprimanded. "You look ready to fight me."

"You just tried to kill Hatsune freaking Miku because you discovered she used to be a Player," Merli defended. "Excuse me for preparing to defend myself!"

"That's still going to involve fighting," Yukari observed. "Do you really think you stand a chance against a Composer?"

"I don't even know what a Composer  _is_ ," Merli insisted. "What are you trying to do?"

Yukari glared - and something manifested on her face. Miku and Luka vanished from the alleyway as marks traced their way over Yukari's cheeks and forehead; they looked like the lines that formed Noise.

"Are you going to fight me after I tell you?" Yukari started to advance, causing Merli to step back to each of her footfalls. "The Composer is the ruler of a given domain - the strongest Reaper in the Underground. The domain of the Reaper's Game in Utau City extended through the  _entire city_. What about an ordinary Player can strike down someone like me?"

Something slammed into her shoulder, causing her to stumble aside - it was an arrow.

"What the hell-!?"

Merli took the opening, leaping away to put distance between her and Yukari as she turned in the direction the arrow had come. They were out of the crook between the concert venue and the next building over; the Players were gathered there, and Zunko, foremost, had her bow drawn. No sooner had Merli's feet touched down than Iroha's blades of wind lashed through the air, and Yukari raised her arms in defense as they slammed into her. Flower promptly charged forward in a streak of red and blue, slamming into Yukari and leaving her twisting as Anon and Kanon charged forward; voltage gathered between Kanon's hands, and she flung it forward before Yukari could still turn around; the impact washed over her, and she was still reacting to it when Anon closed the gap, slamming a blazing fist into her ribs.

A flaming kick followed through on her leg, then she made to drive her fist into Yukari's nose.

Her fist collided with Yukari's palm instead - and the flames around it faltered.

" _Enough!_ "

The Reaper's grip tightened, and Anon screamed as Yukari flung her back, sending her tumbling to the ground. Kanon hurled another lightning ball at her, but Yukari swung her arm at it before it could connect, knocking it back the way it came and causing it to collide with its generator instead; then she raised her hand over her head and slammed it into the ground.

Hellish blue flames ripped out of the ground from beneath the two mirror images - and neither of them had the chance to scream before their bodies vanished into the blaze.

"No!" Merli screamed.

Flower charged her from behind, but this time Yukari was ready for it; she moved just aside, leaving her foot in the way, and Flower was  _knocked out of her charge_ from it, slamming to the ground no further than arm's length. The Reaper raised her fist with intention to bring it down, only for something to appear in the way - a gleaming barrier, nearly transparent. Yukari turned to find Yuki had advanced to the front of the group; her hand was extended towards Yukari, and she had an absolutely  _furious_ expression on her face.

Yukari scoffed. "So even the little kid wants in on this, huh?"

"You lied to Merli!" Yuki yelled, and there was emotion in her voice like nobody had heard her use before. "You got rid of Anon and Kanon! If I can do anything to help stop you, I will!"

The Reaper stepped back. "That's the thing," she taunted. "You  _can't_ do anything to help stop me."

She lashed her foot at the barrier - and it  _twisted_ in the air, like she'd struck a wooden plank in front of her. Then she reached forward while it was still tumbling, grabbing it by the edge and hurling it back at Yuki; the little one  _screamed_ , raising her hands before her in terror.

A spike of ice shot out of the ground, then extended once to stand just barely taller than Yuki - and when the thrown barrier collided with it, both shattered and vanished.

Yukari turned to find Merli standing there, glaring at her. "Don't. You. Dare."

The Reaper scoffed. "You act so brave," she growled. "Are you really going to try and erase me?"

"If you're going to attack Players, I'm going to have to anyways," Merli demanded.

"What about your sister?"

Her words caught Merli off-guard; Yukari turned towards her, her snarl all the worse for the Noise-esque lines across her face. "They took your sister as your entry fee for the Reaper's Game. If a Player gets erased, they might still be able to be pulled back together, reconstructed from scattered Soul, if someone with enough Imagination is benevolent enough - but their fee is rendered non-refundable. If you fight me, you make me erase you - and prevent your sister from even  _existing_ again." 

Merli gasped, stepping away. "No... You're lying!"

"I haven't lied to you once since this Game started," Yukari proclaimed. "You assumed I was a Player, and I saw no reason to correct you. Every word out of my mouth since we made our pact has been truthful. I don't know DIVA. Surviving the Game doesn't guarantee your return to life. The job of a Reaper is to do everything in their power to see as many Players erased as possible. I  _hate_ Pig Noise. All of those are truth."

A sinister grin rose on her face. "Here's another truth: I'm your partner. You made a pact with me. And if a Player with a pact loses their partner, they have _seven minutes_ before that erasure follows them through the pact. All the Players in this Game have partners already - which leaves you with no one to save you from the loss. If you erase me - if _anyone_  erases me - then that erases you too. And with it, your sister is gone forever."

She turned to Flower, who had gotten to her feet. "Unless the others can erase me in five, and you or the invis is willing to die for her."

The lines upon her face began to vanish, and Zunko's bow vanished as the civilians faded back in. "Now, if you're all going to sit tight and look pretty, I have bigger fish to fry."

Yukari stormed away, leaving Merli standing there in terror.

* * *

"That should keep you alright for now..."

Luka had been in the middle of calling for medical assistance when Haku had arrived - a combination of Neru forgetting her phone in the Dead God's Pad and the realization that the outsider was on the Player list meant nobody had gotten the message until the concert was already on. A hastily-placed modulator decal on the floor of the backstage area put Haku in the RG without invalidating her rules in the UG, and the emergency measures gave Haku permission to help heal Miku's injuries where they lay - though not enough to stop her from bearing a nasty scar across her stomach from Yukari's attack.

"You can't do anything more strenuous than holding a ten-page magazine with your left arm for the next week," Haku warned. "Otherwise it's going to unmake it, and it'll need to heal with RG methods."

Miku nodded. "I'm just glad you were able to do this much."

Haku sighed. "That makes two of us."

"That makes  _seven_ of us," Luka argued.

Len shook his head. "So, what about the outsider?"

"If she's on the Player list, she'll pass out at Gumi's designation," Haku informed them. "Neru's going after her right now to tag her and trap her in the UG. I don't want to set the Players on her, but I need her alive long enough for the next mission to start. The Players' goal will just be to survive until she's erased."

"What about us?" Rin asked. "If we-"

"No!" Miku yelled.

Haku stopped her from trying to move. "Don't!"

"She was talking to me," Miku insisted. "I tricked her into thinking I was the only one who was an ex-Player. And she just tried to kill me. If you try and go after her, she's going to try and hurt you guys. If she manages to get you in range of one of these decals..."

"Seconded," Haku confirmed. "The scan on your Player Pins expires tonight, and I'm not giving you an extender. Leave this to us. Please."

She got down and glanced at the modulator decal on the floor; its colour changed, and Haku vanished, invisible to the RG.

Miku sighed. "Help me get up," she insisted. "I need to get home. We _all_ need to stay out of DIVA until this Game is over."

Meiko managed to help her to her feet. "Sounds like a plan," she admitted. "But give us a moment to make sure the crowd's gone. If some fan tries to get your attention, they're going to grab your arm."

"Point."

The five of them made their way out of the building, and Miku sighed, rubbing the scar on her torso weakly. "That's not gonna go away," she murmured, wincing. "It hurts... Now I know what a Game Master feels like.

"Speak... of the devil..."

The quiet voice from behind caught Miku off-guard.

"...and she... shall appear."

Standing there was a girl who looked no older than a sophomore, with shoulder-length twintails of faded brown hair. Her skin was pale from lack of light; two legs and her right arm were visibly prosthetic, and her left arm was covered in vicious burn scars. Her left eye was cataracted and blind; her right eye was a pale green. She wore an unpleasantly short black skirt, and a dark grey vest left open enough to be nearly indecent. It took a short moment for Miku to recognize the individual before her - for she was more familiar with that individual in a far more monstrous state.

"Calne Ca?!"

* * *

"So, it's you."

The voice from behind her stopped Yukari in her tracks in the middle of I_O Walk; a smirk rose on her face. This wasn't the voice of any of the Reapers who had been at the concert, and the Game Master had told her the higher-ups were unable to attend. The rank of Composer meant one rarely took action directly, and so as she glanced over her shoulder, her words were an educated guess. "Conductor, I presume?"

A girl was standing there in a dull grey vest, detached black sleeves, and a yellow-trimmed black skirt; her blonde hair was in a single sidetail to her side, and her Reaper's wings were barely the length of her upper arms. "You presume correct."

"What a rare sight," Yukari mused, turning to face her entirely. "Conductor meaning to strike a Composer down."

"Yes," the Conductor conceded, "but not the Composer who assigned her to the station."

Yukari nodded. "True."

The Conductor made to step forward. "Barely a Composer at all," she added. "Given the throne for the lack of those above you, following your predecessor's death by outside cause. And without the Underground your rule belongs to, what's more. The only sign you even deserve to be called Composer is your Imagination, and the presence of the Reaper's power even in the absence of your wings."

"You're right," Yukari conceded. "Look at me. No plan, no Noise, no weapons worth a damn - oh, and something else I don't have: _Anything. To. Lose._ So." Noise lines began to trace across her face again. "If you're actually standing there, instead of some phantom to keep your body safe, and you have any intention of standing between me and the Composer who assigned you the station..."

She raised a hand before her, and ice began to frost from her palm, forming a blade in either direction.

"...do your worst, you witch."

The Conductor smirked, raising her hands to reach behind her back. "If you think I'm a witch..."

Her right hand swung out, holding a large-caliber, break-open pistol in black and red, with a golden cross hanging from a chain on the butt.

Her left hand swung out, holding a similarly weighty firearm in blue and black, this one bearing a grey diamond from a chain in the same place.

"...then you should know better than to mess with me."

**NATURAL BORN DICTATOR  
** **Chapter Closed**


	11. Post-Concert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> Alert: This chapter contains gruesome physical description that requires me to add the "Graphic Descriptions of Violence" tag to the warning labels. Consider yourself warned.

When Merli awoke on Day 7 of the Game, it was early in the morning; the skies were only beginning to illuminate. She was standing at the Flower Fight Memorial; once again, other Players were scattered around her. Everyone looked to be safely accounted for, except for Yukari; none of them were at risk of erasure, for Iroha and Flower had formed a pact yesterday after Anon and Kanon's...

It still terrified Merli to realize that Yukari had _erased_ them.

As she got to her feet, phones rang; the last message had come in.

 _Emergency Mission._  
_The invader awaits execution in the garden to the otherworld._  
_Survive until her erasure._  
_~The Reapers_

_PS: If a Player should lose their partner within seven minutes of the completion of the mission on Day 7, they will survive to the end of the Game without question._

"The invader," Merli read quietly. "Yukari..."

"Survive," Zunko observed. "That's why they put us all together, here. If something goes wrong, we can back each other up."

"So, what then?" Iroha asked. "We just sit here until they take her out?"

Yuki nodded. "She was fighting too strong yesterday," she mused. "If she tries to attack us, we have to run."

Flower sighed. "Maybe let's not be cornered against the memorial, then?" she suggested. "Probably be better if we wait on Two Kind Walk instead of-"

"I have to go."

Merli's utterance caught everyone by surprise. "What?" Flower started after her. "What are you-?"

"I have to know," Merli insisted. "I have to see her. I'm sorry."

"Wait-!" Flower made to approach, but she was already running. "Merli!"

* * *

Yukari opened her eyes.

She was lying in a peaceful-looking garden, with what appeared to be a large elevator box standing nearby. As she started to rise, she found the Conductor standing before her; her massive pistols were lying in her hands, and she had a bitter look on her face.

"Ah, I was wondering when this one would start."

With a growl, Yukari pushed herself to her feet. "What did you do to me?"

"I didn't  _do_ anything," the Conductor insisted. "You chose to fight me, and I survived long enough for you to run out of time."

"Run out of time...?" A curse emerged as she remembered what Miku had said. "Timers and pass-outs." She raised her gaze. "So, what, you're going to erase me? Wanted to see my face when I died facing the barrel of a gun?"

The Conductor shook her head. "Oh, nothing like that," she reprimanded. "See, we're strapped for Reapers. Six games without a newcomer would leave us with two Harriers, two Support, and the tops. But we'll only get people who want to be Reapers if enough survive that there are people who know them in the Collective."

Yukari glared. "And the population of an entire city wasn't enough for you?"

Her words caught the Conductor by surprise. "You're here because of-?"

" _Of course_ I'm here because of that!" Yukari yelled. "I was Composer when those Players were inducted into the Game! I had to feel all of their sins, all of their terror, and find what every last one of them valued most! And then they were ripped away from me, because I didn't have an Underground to host them in!" She forced herself to her feet. "I thought they would be given a chance! I thought they would be scattered across Undergrounds the world over, each finding a chance at life in a new place - just as I would! But they were all sent here, and  _massacred!_ "

"If you think we did anything to the people of Utau City that they didn't desire, you fail to understand why they were sent here," the Conductor snapped. "Not a single Player made any effort to defend themselves. Half of them  _asked_ to be erased. The Angels knew they had a death wish, and wanted to grant it so that no one else would be erased from their inability to act."

Yukari swung her hand to her side. "What about  _my_ inability to act!?" she demanded. "I was on the edge of my score! If they were going to be offered up as sacrifice to extend the lifespans of Reapers, that should have been _my_ opportunity!"

The Conductor shook her head. "If you were so near to erasure as to lose your wings on the first day of this Game, the fault is only yours."

"Bullshit!" Yukari protested. "I died in Utau City as a  _tourist!_ From the moment I became a Reaper, I was looked down upon by all of my seniors! When I served as Support, they would have me put up walls and  _leave them where they stood!_ When I served as a Harrier, everyone would work together to try and  _stop me from erasing anyone!_  I had to prowl the mission grounds and set Noise on pactless Players on the first day just to _survive the week!_  What part of that is my fault!?"

"The Reaper Collective is meant to be a cooperative effort. You should have spoken to Utau's Conductor of your discrimination."

"You think I didn't try!?" Yukari demanded. "After every Game, I would beg her to convince them, let me act! And when the next Game came along, it would never change! Now I'm here, an outsider once again, and the  _Composer_ of this city is trying to erase me herself!"

Those weighty pistols clicked as the Conductor raised them. " _This_ is not the same as your past sufferings," she proclaimed. "The Composer was warned of your approach, that you would seek to take retribution on DIVA for the actions of its Reapers. If we had any illusions that you had only come here in an effort to serve as a Reaper again, they were shattered when you attacked a former Player, no longer part of the Game, and then advanced on those currently participating. What happened to you in Utau City, and what happened to the Players when it was destroyed, do not justify what you have done to those in DIVA who were not responsible."

Yukari sighed. "I'm not in the mood."

She took a single step forward, and the Conductor fired; her shot slammed into Yukari's hand, and she yelled in pain, stumbling back. "What the hell-!?"

"Your true colours were bared yesterday, and the Composer instructed me to act." The Conductor drew back the pistol that had been fired, and levelled the other on Yukari's head. "You have been branded with the Underground's frequency - and you are imprisoned here. The erasures you achieved yesterday may be enough to delay your expiry from the loss of your wings, but I have robbed you of escape to the Realground. You are now trapped here, just as any Player is, and you will be executed by the Composer herself."

A smirk rose on Yukari's face. "Just as any Player is," she echoed. "But the Players still have one frequency they can access, right?"

"What-!?"

Noise lines traced her cheeks; the Conductor made to fire, but Yukari ducked, letting the first few shots fly over her. A lash of her hand struck one pistol from her grip, and then the other; Yukari charged forward, and the Conductor couldn't react before she grabbed her by the wing and flung her in the direction of the elevator box.

Her connection  _crumpled_ the doors.

" _Sayonara, ogenki de,_ " Yukari quoted; then she turned, dashing out of the garden.

* * *

_Warning._  
_The invader has loosed her chains._  
_Be on your guard._

The message came through as Merli was on her way up Aqua Street; with a curse, she drove her phone back into her pocket, dashing into Rouge Square.  _Where is this garden the mission mentioned? Is... Maybe the White Knight?_ She promptly sprinted onto I_O Walk, turning onto Amaretto and stepping into the Garden of the White Knight.

She didn't see Yukari as she approached the water - but she did hear her.

"Hello, Merli."

Turning round revealed that Yukari was standing at the edge of Amaretto. "Wrong place," she observed. "But... near enough that I noticed you after I got out." She started to approach Merli, who realized with terror that she had pinned herself against the water's edge. "So, you came looking for me. Are you going to try and be my executor? Do you want to erase me?"

"No," Merli insisted. "I just want to know."

"Know what?" Yukari demanded. "You want to know why I came here, to DIVA? You want to know why I attacked Miku?"

"I want to know why you made a pact with me," Merli proclaimed - and her partner halted. "Miku said - making a pact with a Player puts you on the list. If you want to erase Players, then you making a pact with me would erase you too, wouldn't it?"

Yukari's expression become one of confusion. "That's it?" she demanded. "You came after me - you risked your existence just to get an answer about that?"

Merli nodded. "That's all I want. I don't want to hurt you, and I'm not trying to stop you. I just want to know."

Quiet... and then Yukari sighed.

"When Utau City was destroyed, the Players were brought to DIVA. And then DIVA's Composer lifted the ban on Reapers attacking Players directly, to make sure every last one was erased. I wanted retribution for that. But they knew I was coming. The moment I made Diola, I had to stay hidden." She beckoned to Merli. "What better hiding place than in plain sight? If that was a one-time thing, and Players since are safe from direct attack, then presenting myself as a Player is the best way to stop them from realizing me."

"Then I was just a cover for you?" Merli demanded. "So why did you help me complete missions?"

"Oh, think about it," Yukari insisted. "A Player's existence is on the line. If I don't at least look like I'm putting in effort, I don't look much like a Player, do I?"

Merli felt stupid. "I guess that's a good point," she conceded. "But the concert..."

Yukari groaned. "Miku played me for a fool," she admitted. "All the Reapers, all the Players, and her, back from the Game. She baited me out, knowing I couldn't pass up the opportunity with that many targets. I wasn't interested in going until the bait was in front of me, and I was too blind to see the trap."

"I see." Merli closed her eyes. "So... Are you going to erase me?"

"You know, I'm not sure," Yukari mused. "I mean, on one hand, you're a Player. And the Players are on my list." She stepped forward. "But on the other hand, your sister. That bullshit entry fee... Taking the existence of someone innocent to the Game? That's not right."

Merli raised her gaze. "If you're Composer of Utau City... can't you change that?" she asked. "Take anything else from me, and put Lapis back, and I won't try to stop you. I only wanted to survive to give her her life back."

Yukari shook her head. "I'm not Composer of DIVA," she explained. "So I don't have any say in the rules of this place. If she was taken from you, you only get her back after surviving the Game. Otherwise, I-"

"Yuzuki Yukari..."

The strained female voice from nearby caught both of them off-guard; Merli raised a hand before her in terror, and Yukari turned round. Standing there was a girl who looked a little like Miku... but it wasn't Miku, for the minute black wings emerging from her back marked her as a Reaper, and her body was far more broken than Yukari had dealt her damage. With her questions answered, Merli had tried to keep Yukari's attention long enough for DIVA District's Composer to find them, but the recognition that her pactmate showed told her that this was  _not_ the Composer.

"Calne Ca!" Yukari seemed to scarcely believe what she was seeing. "What are you doing here?"

The girl, Calne Ca, stepped forward - her prosthetics making even such simple steps shaky. "Delivering the pain you deserve..."

What shock decorated Yukari's face contorted into anger. "You ungrateful bitch!" she yelled. "I reformed you from scattered Soul, and you come after me to hunt me down?"

"You pulled me from peace with intent to aid you!" Calne Ca objected, aiming a finger on her scarred left arm at the outsider. "And then you saw my form, and dismissed me!"

"Peace!?" Yukari demanded. "You think cessation of existence is  _peace!?_ "

"Erasure was a  _blessing!_ " Calne Ca proclaimed. She closed her eyes, as though recalling the memories. "There was nothing. No sadness, no cause for hurt. In erasure, one cannot see one's mistakes, or the dreams that failed to be." Then she opened them again, gazing down at her body. "And you dragged me back to this corpse, only to cast me aside when you saw me without the burden that earned me the mockery of Calne Cantus!"

Yukari looked _disgusted_. "The title of Cantus is given to Game Masters who are willing and able to strike down any Players before them! What part of that is a burden!?"

Calne Ca raised her gaze to Yukari in a hateful glare. "Move your feet! Close your hands! And imagine what it is to be  **un-a-ble to!** " For a brief moment, her voice was distorted, rippling through the air monotonous and uniform, each syllable the same space from the next with no pause between words; Merli recoiled in terror, and even Yukari was caught off-guard. "Cantus is the Game Master's last resort! An existence condemned to Noise frequency! A form not one's own!" She shook her head. "The position of Game Master is a sentence to death in DIVA. But no Reaper had dared to risk the transformation before I took the stigma. And no Reaper has dared to risk the transformation since!"

The invader swung her hand to the side. "That just proves you're the better Reaper!" she proclaimed. "You chose to become Cantus rather than be erased!"

"I chose to become Cantus rather than be  _alive!_ "

Calne Ca's objection caught both Merli and Yukari in shock; she swung her hand down, gesturing to her body hatefully. "Look at me! Less of my limbs are whole than those of _Noise!_  In the Realground, I am forgotten! In the Underground, I am  _shunned!_ " She winced, hanging her head, and her burned arm reached for her chest. "My mind... My body... My heart..."

A single tear fell from her eye.

"It hurts."

She raised her head.

"It hurts."

Her eyes opened.

"It hurts!"

Something manifested around the cataracts.

" _It hurts!_ "

Sparks of fire - black as pitch.

" _ **It hurts!**_ "

A hellish black flame manifested around Calne Ca's blinded eye, burning so thick as to be opaque, blazing so broad as to obscure the upper-left side of her face, and the world shifted in the manner of a Noise coming to be fought. A scream tore out of Merli as a boiling, black substance dripped out of the socket - which was slowly  _widening_ , the flesh burning away to expand the cavity. Her Reaper wings seemed to  _expand,_  the skeletal frames stretching thinner, and as they grew to arm's length they  _shattered_ , the pieces flung into the air and showering around her.

Her left leg fell from its mount, tumbling to the ground and vanishing; as her body started to lean to that side, steely grey lines like Noise essence emerged from the stump of her leg, forming a warped limb to replace it. It reached back, bent forward, then trailed briefly along the ground and extended skyward behind her in three parallel segments that tapered to a point. It stood taller than her prosthetic had, raising her body off the ground and causing her right leg to fall from its mount; as she began to lean in the other direction, further lines emerged from that stump, forming another, identical limb. Her right arm fell from her shoulder, and from where the prosthetic had joined emerged steely lines that formed a nasty, scythe-like shape; this time, the lines divided in three directions near the end rather than remaining parallel, forming three blades at the end of her limb.

Her left arm was still whole; she reached it towards the black flame burning at her eye socket, and the moment the flames licked it, they spread to  _consume it_. She swung the arm to her side, and the flesh fell in ashes to the ground as it changed - raw bone elongating from the elbow further, three inhumanly long fingers curling into their approximation of a fist. The twintails of her hair lashed in the air; one shortened, tapering to a point, while the other extended, flaying wildly. Calne Ca opened her mouth, and her skin  _cracked_ along the jawline, extending back around her head. As it stretched wider, her jaw seemed to  _break off_  - it vanished before it could make contact with her torso, and from the roof of her mouth emerged six tendrils of Noise lines, writhing in the air before her.

The flame extinguished from her eye, revealing a crimson light on a black mount that filled the now-expanded cavity.

" **You re-cre-a-ted me with in-tent to have me as-sist you!** " Her voice was now permanently distorted, the tendrils of her lower face shifting as she spoke. " **But as an in-va-der in DI-VA, with in-tent to blas-pheme the Rea-per's Game, you de-serve on-ly e-ra-sure! And I shall as-sist _in that en-dea-vor a-lone!_** "

Yukari stepped back, terrified. "My god... Those lines! That's-!"

Calne Cantus charged forward, her bladed arm raised as she moved with a speed her form should not permit; Yukari raised her hand, and ice extended from it in both directions, forming a two-bladed weapon on which she met her foe's attack. As soon as it connected, Yukari tried to follow through; she forced the waved arm away and swung her weapon at Calne Ca's stomach, only for the Cantus to fail to react. When Yukari made to swing at her head, her skeletal arm reached forward and caught it at the join between the blades.

Then her grip tightened, and Yukari screamed as it made to crush her fingers. She managed to force her hand out of the bony grip and forced herself aside as Calne Ca's bladed arm swung down at her; then she leapt clear across the Garden, a crimson sphere appearing in her grip to be thrown. Calne Ca saw it coming and struck it with her bladed arm, sending it back the way it had come; it halted on the ground before Yukari, and she screamed as it blast, throwing her to the ground. The Cantus brought her arm down, and waves of Noise essence flew from its wake; Yukari tried to move aside and found one ripping across her arm, earning a scream of pain.

She had barely begun to right herself before Calne Ca was right up before her; her skeleton arm reached forward, seizing her around the neck and dragging her into the air. " **What did you mean to ac-com-plish?** " she demanded. " **You tar-get the Rea-pers and Pla-yers of DI-VA, both past and pre-sent! Should you have suc-ceed-ed, what would you then pro-ceed to do!?** "

"I..." Yukari struggled weakly, trying to break free. "I don't..."

" **Your en-ti-re ean-dea-vor has been naught but su-i-cide!** " Calne Ca proclaimed. " **You would a-chieve no-thing! And the An-gels would see you e-ras-ed for the at-tempt!** "

She raised Yukari over her head and threw her to the earth, tearing a line across the Garden and leaving Yukari choking for air. "You... can't... claim... to know... the will... of Angels!" she protested.

" **Black Rock Shooter...** " Calne Ca spoke the name with reverence, carrying a more melodic flow as she raised her skeletal hand at her side. " **Wist-ful me-mo-ries... You speak of An-gels with the de-mea-nor of one who knows them as naught but faith! But in DI-VA, the An-gels have ap-peared in the flesh! And the last Com-po-ser feared their wrath, for _know-ing what it en-ta-iled!_ Do not speak to me a-bout what I can claim to** **know!** "

The Cantus made to step forward - and a hand connected with her skeletal arm.

"And do not speak to unworthy Reapers about what they do not deserve to hear."

Merli had watched the conflict in terror and fear, but this new arrival had gone unnoticed to both combatants and observer. Dressed in grey and black, with nearly white hair and fierce red eyes; she had no visible wings, but there was a power about her that Merli could feel from only a glance. In her right hand was a long blade, its entire build uniform black.

Calne Ca pulled away. " **Yo-wa-ne...** "

Yukari took a defensive stance. "Who are you?"

The newcomer turned to her, saying nothing.

"...So." A bitter smile rose on Yukari's face. "That's what Miku meant... about ascending..."

She began to laugh - a hollow, hateful laugh - and the newcomer stepped forward, turning her blade once at her side. "Yuzuki Yukari," she proclaimed. "As Composer of DIVA, I cannot allow you to desecrate the Reaper's Game any further." She seized the weapon in both hands. "If you have any final words, speak them now."

A moment's quiet; then Yukari bowed her head. "End it, you whore."

"Very well."

The Composer stepped forward, bringing her blade back at her side; Yukari raised her head, baring her neck, and Merli winced as the Composer swung, moving forward with abrupt speed. For a brief moment, there was no reaction.

Then Yukari's body vanished from the Garden of the White Knight, and the Composer lowered her blade at her side, letting it vanish.

"Aoki Merli."

The address caught Merli off-guard. "Y-Yes?"

The Composer turned to face her. "You have spend the greater part of your time in the Reaper's Game concerned for the fate of your sister, who was taken as your entry fee. For this, I apologize."

"Y-You mean..." Merli glanced at Calne Ca, who nodded silently, before turning back to the Composer. "You're the one who takes the fees of the Players?"

"Yes," the Composer confirmed. "Under normal circumstances, we try to avoid taking fees that will affect the Realground, such that those outside of the Game do not suffer for actions they cannot control. However, you were the sole Player to be inducted after we had discovered Yukari's invasion into DIVA. It was my hope that she would limit her retribution to those who had held a role in the Game, and a Player with such a fee would bring her hesitance. My faith was rewarded - but that does not excuse my actions. I offer you my apologies."

Merli shook her head. "Just... tell me how I can get her back."

"You already have."

The words caught Merli by surprise. "What?"

"An entry fee is only rendered non-refundable by the Player's erasure," the Composer explained. "Upon surviving to the end of the seventh day, regardless of the verdict, your entry fee is restored. The final mission has been completed, and the Game is over. And so your sister will be restored."

A shaky sigh emerged from Merli. "Th-Thank you..."

The Composer then turned to the Cantus. "Calne Ca."

She raised her hand, closing it lightly - and a gentle light washed over Calne Ca's warped form. When it faded, the Cantus was gone; standing there was the broken Reaper who had interrupted their conversation. Slowly, she opened her eyes, glancing over herself in amazement before raising her gaze to the Composer again. "Yowane..."

"You were returned to existence as a Reaper, and this cannot be changed. Should you agree to serve as a Reaper once more, you will be permitted to exist until such time as your wings expire, or your body is defeated. However, you were erased, and content in erasure. If you should desire that once more, it will be granted to you."

Calne Ca closed her eyes, bowing her head. "Please... This existence... It hurts."

"Very well."

Consciousness began to flee Merli; as her vision faded, she saw that gentle light wash over Calne Ca again... and then fade, to reveal nothing.

**The End  
** **Chapter Closed**


	12. Afterparty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Aurya-  
> This is the last chapter of Return, and I don't know if I'm gonna do another UG Vocaloid story, so I am going to label the series as "complete" until such time as that becomes untrue.

"So that was her, then? Thanks."

Miku was at home, trying her damnedest not to give her arm any suffering - which meant she had kept her sarashi from the concert so that she could remain decent until she could use both hands. The only clothing on her person was a bathrobe, and her left arm wasn't even in the sleeve to wear it properly. Her phone was trapped between her ear and her shoulder as she wrote down the number she had been given; as soon as she had the last digit, she seized the device. "Yes, I'm staying off it. One week without being able to use it is better than four months in a cast. ...Alright, thanks."

She hung up the call, then quickly made to dial the number she had written down - that of Aoki Merli.

* * *

_"What is this?"_

_When Merli opened her eyes again, she was not in DIVA District - at least, not anywhere in DIVA Distirct she knew. Rather, she was standing in in clearing of a forest - a forest of **cherry blossoms** , shining in a light whose source she could not see. As she glanced around, she realized the other Players were around her - Flower, Yuki, Zunko, and two patches of crushed grass that she assumed to be beneath Iroha's feet._

_The others all looked relieved to see her; Flower, in particular, stepped forward. "Merli! Thank god you're okay! What were you thinking?"_

_"Can I just say I regret it and we can leave it at that?" Merli pleaded._

_Zunko sighed. "I guess that sounds fair. Where are we?"_

_After a moment, a voice was audible from nearby - singing to a tune that they all recognized._

_"Senbonzakura, yoru ni magire_  
_Kimi no koe mo todokanai yo_  
_Koko wa utage hagane no ori_  
_Sono dantoudai o tobiorite..."_

_Everyone turned to find someone standing there - a girl in grey and black, with blonde hair drawn into a single sidetail and a pair of small Reaper's wings upon her back. She had a smile on her face, and after a moment Yuki stepped forward. "You weren't at the concert."_

_The Reaper smiled. "The video for that one was up at midnight," she explained. "I've had it stuck in my head all day."_

_The Players all laughed at that; even Yuki offered a small smile._

_"Welcome, Players, to the Otherworld. You are the victors of the Reaper's Game." She raised a hand to her chest. "I am Akita Neru, the Conductor and second to the Composer of DIVA. May I offer my deepest apologies for what you have suffered at the hands of the invader." Then, raising that hand forward; "For surviving seven days in the Underground, each of your entry fees shall be refunded."_

_A gentle light shone across the gathered Players; Merli could see nothing until it had faded, and once it had, there were two individuals she did not recognize. One was a girl of middle-school age, dressed in an attention-grabbing red outfit with a helmet that bore cat ears... and no visor, explaining the black eye. The other was an androgynous-looking figure dressed in dark hues somewhere between warm and showy - a midriff-baring jacket over a consuming winter-esque coat, except that it had no sleeves; what covered the individual's right arm didn't seem to be one piece with the rest of the garment._

_A streak of black in otherwise white hair told her the latter was Viola Flower; the former must have been Nekomura Iroha, who she now recalled as complaining about a black eye on Day 3._

_Merli aimed a finger at the two. "Appearance... Visibility..." Then she beckoned to Zunko and Yuki. "What were your fees?"_

_"Some entry fees are less obvious than others," Akita explained. "Tohoku Zunko, you prided yourself on a strategic mind that served you well as a mediator."_

_Zunko looked awkward. "And that would be why I charged the raven that took my pin bare-handed," she murmured._

_Akita nodded. "And Kaai Yuki, at your age, there is nothing more important than your feelings."_

_"That's why..." Yuki sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "That's why... I wasn't scared. Of the Reapers, of the Noises..."_

_Iroha shook her head. "But what about the concert?" she asked. "At the concert, you were angry at Yukari."_

_"It's not possible to take someone's emotions entire," Akita explained. "Rather, as her fee, we simply buried them - deeper in her heart, so that they wouldn't come as easily. It would take something truly inspiring to bring them back to the surface - and it would seem the invader managed to provoke that inspiration."_

_She sighed. "The Composer had proclaimed that in the aftermath of this Reaper's Game, the number of Players to be given new life is... two."_

_Flower clicked her tongue. "Yeah," she admitted. "Yukari mentioned that much."_

_Akita nodded. "For your performance in the Reaper's Game, we have judged each of you, as individuals; and from those judgements, we have decided which Players shall be returned to life. Congratulations..._

_"Aoki Merli, and Kaai Yuki."_

_Yuki gasped, surprised. "Me?" she exclaimed. "But... why? I didn't fight a lot of Noises, or finish a lot of missions..."_

_"When Merli's entry fee was realized," Akita explained, "you were the first one to say that you were willing to put your existence on the line to make sure she survived the Reaper's Game. That courage - that bravery - has deemed you worthy of returning to life."_

_Merli turned. "And me?"_

_"You were the only one to complete the mission of Day 1," Akita explained. "You and your partner were the only contributors to the completion of the mission on Day 2. You were the one to form the strategy for the group on Day 3. And you were willing to face down the invader at the cost of your erasure and your entry fee."_

_She raised her hand. "May the two of you greet life with new perspective."  
_

_A light washed across Merli and Yuki; and when it faded, they were gone from the forest of cherry blossoms._

_Akita stepped forward. "Now, for the rest of you. You may have your choice of fates."_

_She held out her left hand, and a golden sphere appeared above her palm._

_"If you still seek another chance at life, you may await the next Game."_

_She held out her right hand, and a crimson sphere appeared above her palm._

_"If you wish to serve the Underground, you may join us as a Reaper."_

_She swung both hands down and joined them before her, and a cobalt sphere appeared before her._

_"If you tire of your existence, you may receive peaceful erasure."_

_Flower raised a finger at her. "You know, if you didn't realize that it was Yukari until so late... sounds like you could use an extra hand on deck."_

_Zunko nodded. "The Game is nothing to be hated. I shall join you, as well."_

_Akita smiled. "The Reapers welcome you both. And what of you?"_

_Iroha sighed, pulling her helmet off her head. "I dunno," she admitted. "I mean, I don't really think I'd like to be a Reaper, but.... How long will it be to the next one?"_

_"In DIVA, no Player is to be dead for a year before they are entered in the Reaper's Game," Akita proclaimed. "You need not fear the Realground will leave you behind."_

_"Then... I'll wait for the next one," Iroha proclaimed._

_"Very well," Akita observed. "For every Game, an entry fee must be taken. However, what a person values will frequently change as they experience life - and, in some cases, as they experience the Underground. This time, you are playing for..."_

* * *

"H-Hello?"

Merli was surprised to have received a call from an unfamiliar number on her first day back from the Reaper's Game. She and Lapis had both been overjoyed to see one another; Merli had been terrified to discover that Lapis' absence had been, from her perspective,  _helpless observance_ of her sister's struggle through the Game, and the two resolved that today was to be spent with the two of them in peace.

At her answering the phone, the voice from the other end was not one she expected to be addressing her directly.  _"Aoki Merli?"_

"Wh-What?" Merli glanced at her phone. "Is this...?"

_"Hatsune Miku."_

"Miku!?" Merli couldn't believe her ears. "U-Um, I mean... To, uh, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Miku sighed through the line.  _"I'm taken to understand that you were Yuzuki Yukari's partner in the Reaper's Game?"_

Merli took a deep breath. "Yes. I was."

_"And that you were there when she attacked me, after the concert on Day 6?"_

"You could tell?" Merli asked.

 _"Reapers can see the Underground from the Realground,"_ Miku informed her.  _"I saw her react to something. That was you talking to her?"_

"Yes," Merli confirmed. "What about it?"

 _"I wanted to thank you,"_ Miku explained.

"Thank me?" Merli echoed. "What for?"

_"Well... I'm pretty sure that the only reason she didn't keep attacking me after Luka came out was because you were there. That was a huge risk for you to take. I owe you thanks for that."_

"I..." Merli wasn't sure how to react to this. "I don't really think I deserve that as much as you claim," she admitted, "but... your welcome." Then, after a moment. "I... I wanted to thank you, too."

_"What for?"_

"For making sure sure I didn't hate the Game."

 

 

**The Return of Hatsune Miku**


End file.
